Understanding Farmer Perceptions: Impacts on Agricultural IoT Adoption in Western Cape, South Africa

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a transformative technology with applications in various fields, such as medicine, manufacturing and agriculture. Within agriculture, IoT has been shown to improve food security and profitability while saving costs and resources. Further, studies relating to social aspects of IoT, such as user perspectives and adoption, are limited. The Western Cape's agricultural sector is vulnerable to challenges such as food insecurity and the effects of climate change. Despite this, the adoption of agricultural IoT is uneven within this sector. This study interviewed 17 farmers to gain insights into farmers' perceptions of agricultural IoT, focusing on how these perceptions influence the adoption of IoT within the Western Cape. Pertinent literature was used to construct a combined framework of potential reasons for and against the adoption of IoT within the Western Cape. This research followed a deductive approach by comparing the combined framework with feedback provided by farmers during the interviews. Farmers within the Western Cape cited multiple reasons that influenced their decision to adopt IoT. Farmers reported IoT to be easily accessible while providing a relative advantage over previous systems. Farmers that had not adopted IoT expressed various reasons for doing so. For smaller farming operations, the complex nature of deriving sufficient benefits from IoT did not necessarily justify the costs. Other factors included the cultural change required to adopt new technology and external factors such as insufficient data coverage and governmental support.