Digital Agriculture and Smart Farming: A Review of Emerging Technologies and Their Adoption Barriers

Abstract

The integration of digital agriculture and smart farming technologies represents a transformative evolution in modern agronomy, offering unprecedented solutions to the intertwined crises of global food security, climate change, and resource depletion. This comprehensive review article critically examines the landscape of emerging technological innovations—including the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and blockchain—and their profound impact on optimizing agricultural productivity. By transitioning from traditional, intuition-based practices to precision-driven, data-centric methodologies, smart farming facilitates the precise management of crucial inputs such as water, fertilizers, and pesticides, thereby enhancing the yields of staple crops like Zea mays and Glycine max. Despite these proven agronomic and environmental benefits, the global diffusion of digital agriculture remains highly uneven. This review provides an in-depth analysis of the formidable adoption barriers that impede the proliferation of smart farming, with a specialized focus on the Indian agricultural context. In India, where the sector is dominated by smallholder farmers with fragmented landholdings, the transition is significantly hindered by severe economic constraints, a lack of robust rural digital infrastructure, and pervasive digital illiteracy. Furthermore, the absence of standardized data governance policies and localized, language-accessible software platforms exacerbates the technological divide. Through a thorough synthesis of current literature, this paper identifies the critical bottlenecks in technology transfer and highlights the urgent necessity for cohesive policy interventions. By mapping both the technological potential and the socioeconomic limitations, this review aims to guide policymakers, agritech developers, and agricultural stakeholders in formulating targeted strategies to accelerate the inclusive adoption of digital agriculture in developing economies