Adoption and Barriers to Data‑Driven Irrigation for Sustainable Agriculture

Adoption and Barriers to Data‑Driven Irrigation for Sustainable Agriculture | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Adoption and Barriers to Data‑Driven Irrigation for Sustainable Agriculture Matanat Asgarova, Sara Mammadova, Rustam Rustamov, Mehriban Malikova, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8933804/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study investigates the adoption, perceived effectiveness, and barriers to data-driven irrigation in sustainable agriculture, drawing on a multi-country, 115-respondent survey involving farmers, engineers, researchers, and other practitioners. Responses were collected primarily from Azerbaijan, along with participants from Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Germany, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and other countries, reflecting diverse agronomic and climatic contexts. Current irrigation practices include drip (33), sprinkler ( 29 ), flood irrigation ( 21 ), rainwater harvesting ( 20 ), and groundwater pumping ( 20 ). Although respondents widely rate data-driven techniques as highly effective (71 “very effective”), adoption remains uneven: precision irrigation ( 32 ), data analytics ( 30 ), and drone or satellite monitoring ( 27 ) are the most considered options, whereas “none of the above” appears 36 times. Major barriers include inadequate infrastructure (53), lack of technical expertise (43), high initial cost ( 28 ), and insufficient institutional support ( 29 ). Key challenges in water management are water scarcity (41) and climate-related extremes (40). The findings highlight a strong perception–adoption gap consistent across countries, shaped by infrastructural and capacity limitations. The study offers policy insights relevant to both local and global sustainability transitions, underscoring the need for infrastructure modernization, targeted training programs, and financial mechanisms to accelerate the uptake of water-efficient technologies. Agricultural Economics & Policy sustainable agriculture data-driven irrigation multi-country survey adoption barriers water scarcity precision irrigation climate resilience agricultural technology Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8933804","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":594895236,"identity":"8f78f1ab-dae4-4123-8e5b-d8e7fec865aa","order_by":0,"name":"Matanat 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Agriculture\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"sustainable agriculture, data-driven irrigation, multi-country survey, adoption barriers, water scarcity, precision irrigation, climate resilience, agricultural technology","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8933804/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8933804/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study investigates the adoption, perceived effectiveness, and barriers to data-driven irrigation in sustainable agriculture, drawing on a \u003cb\u003emulti-country, 115-respondent survey\u003c/b\u003e involving farmers, engineers, researchers, and other practitioners. Responses were collected primarily from Azerbaijan, along with participants from Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Germany, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and other countries, reflecting diverse agronomic and climatic contexts. Current irrigation practices include drip (33), sprinkler (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e), flood irrigation (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e21\u003c/span\u003e), rainwater harvesting (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e), and groundwater pumping (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e). Although respondents widely rate data-driven techniques as highly effective (71 \u0026ldquo;very effective\u0026rdquo;), adoption remains uneven: precision irrigation (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e32\u003c/span\u003e), data analytics (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e30\u003c/span\u003e), and drone or satellite monitoring (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e27\u003c/span\u003e) are the most considered options, whereas \u0026ldquo;none of the above\u0026rdquo; appears 36 times. Major barriers include inadequate infrastructure (53), lack of technical expertise (43), high initial cost (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e), and insufficient institutional support (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e). Key challenges in water management are water scarcity (41) and climate-related extremes (40). The findings highlight a strong perception\u0026ndash;adoption gap consistent across countries, shaped by infrastructural and capacity limitations. The study offers policy insights relevant to both local and global sustainability transitions, underscoring the need for infrastructure modernization, targeted training programs, and financial mechanisms to accelerate the uptake of water-efficient technologies.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Adoption and Barriers to Data‑Driven Irrigation for Sustainable Agriculture","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-24 09:11:34","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8933804/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"614141e4-f33a-4dcc-b8bf-8a513ab8ee00","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 24th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":63310216,"name":"Agricultural Economics \u0026 Policy"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-24T09:11:34+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-24 09:11:34","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8933804","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8933804","identity":"rs-8933804","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}