Smart Agricultural Innovations for Resource-Efficient and Sustainable Farming
N. Narasimha Raju, D. Abhishek, K. Jaswanth Kumar, P. Bhanu Prasad and B. Hima Chandra
28 Views | 14 Downloads
Abstract:
Purpose: Resource constraints in water, energy, and land, combined with rising food demand, are pushing agricultural systems worldwide toward technology-enabled, resource-efficient practices. While much existing literature examines these smart agricultural innovations from an engineering standpoint, their adoption, scaling, and impact are ultimately shaped by economic, entrepreneurial, and social forces. This review synthesises literature on smart agricultural innovations through a social-science lens, focusing on adoption behaviour, agripreneurship, financial inclusion, gender and rural equity, and policy design. Design/Methodology/Approach: A narrative literature review was conducted, drawing on peer-reviewed journal articles, systematic reviews, and reports from international development agencies published between 2019 and 2026, identified through targeted searches of academic databases and institutional repositories using keywords related to smart farming, precision agriculture, agripreneurship, digital agriculture, and rural financial inclusion. Findings: Four cross-cutting themes emerged: (1) technology adoption is governed less by technical performance than by cost, trust, and contextual fit; (2) agripreneurship and youth-led rural enterprise depend on bundled access to finance, training, and market linkages rather than technology alone; (3) gender and the rural digital divide remain structural barriers to equitable adoption; and (4) government-led digital public infrastructure is emerging as a decisive enabler of inclusive scaling. Practical/Social Implications: The findings suggest that policy and investment should prioritise ecosystem-level enablers, financing, digital literacy, and inclusive design, over standalone technology deployment. Originality: The review contributes an integrated, socially grounded framework for understanding smart agricultural innovation as a rural development and entrepreneurship issue rather than a purely technical one.
Keywords:
Agripreneurship; Digital Agriculture; Financial Inclusion; Precision Agriculture; Resource Efficiency; Sustainable Farming
Citation: N. Narasimha Raju, D. Abhishek, K. Jaswanth, P. Bhanu Prasad and B. Hima Chandra (2026). Smart Agricultural Innovations for Resource-Efficient and Sustainable Farming. Horizon J. Hum. Soc. Sci. Res. 8 (S), 153–162. https://doi.org/10.37534/bp.jhssr.2026.v8.nS.id1404.p153
Download Full PDF
