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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 12 No. sp4 (2025): Recent Advances in Agriculture by Young Minds - III

Climate-smart agricultural technologies and farmers attitude in Tamil Nadu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.11119
Submitted
5 August 2025
Published
01-12-2025

Abstract

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is increasingly recognized as a vital approach for enhancing the sustainability, productivity and resilience of farming systems under changing climatic conditions. CSA encompasses a wide range of climate-smart agricultural technologies such as use of precise farming tools water-saving irrigation methods, cultivation of drought-tolerant crop varieties, integrated nutrient management, conservation tillage, agroforestry practices and renewable energy-based farm operations. These technologies are specifically designed to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change while ensuring improved resource efficiency and long-term food security. This study investigates the attitudes of farmers toward CSA technologies in Tamil Nadu, a region where agricultural livelihoods are highly vulnerable to erratic rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts and rising temperatures. The research was carried out in five purposively selected districts representing diverse agro-climatic zones and technology adoption environments. A structured attitude scale comprising 32 statements related to the perceived benefits, applicability, risks and constraints of CSA technologies was developed and validated using Edward’s criteria. The final scale was administered to a sample of 300 farmers using a five-point Likert format. The results revealed that 28 % of respondents expressed a highly favourable attitude toward CSA Technologies, 57 % respondents showed a favourable attitude and 14 % showed an unfavourable attitude. The favourable responses of the majority of farmers for CSA Technologies demonstrated its role in enhancing crop productivity, improving soil health, increasing water-use efficiency, reducing input costs in the long term and minimizing vulnerability to climate-induced risks. Conversely, unfavourable attitudes were largely influenced by challenges such as high initial investment requirements, technical complexity, inadequate access to credit, limited availability of technologies and insufficient institutional support. These findings underline the critical importance of strengthening awareness programs, providing need-based farmer training, developing cost-effective CSA Technologies packages and improving extension services for effective dissemination of climate-resilient technologies. Understanding farmer’s attitudes toward CSA technologies is essential for formulating targeted outreach strategies, policy interventions and capacity-building initiatives aimed at scaling up the adoption of climate-smart agricultural technologies in Tamil Nadu.

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