A Model for the Adoption and Use of Drones Technologies in the Agricultural Sector, South Africa

Abstract

The use of Dynamic Remotely Operated Navigation Equipment (drone) technology has continued to rise in South Africa, and farmers now can perform agricultural activities through the use of drone technology, which makes farming activities more efficient, productive and sustainable. However, the adoption of these emerging technologies is not rapid in South Africa. This paper endeavors to evaluate farmers' adoption and use of drone technology in the context of farming services. A quantitative research approach was used in this research; a model was proposed, and a survey was administered to a sample of 56 farmers in South Africa. Using Cronbach's alpha and exploratory factor analysis, the study was assessed for validity and reliability whose values were acceptable. The hypothesis were tested using regression analysis and it was found that technology characteristics, technology usefulness, system user-friendly, skills knowledge, awareness, and product processing are the factors that have a positive influence on farmers' use of drone technologies. However, it was found that affordability has no influence on farmers' use of drone technologies. This might be due to the fact that there is no drone manufacturer in South Africa, all of the drones are imported by South Africa drone companies and this lead to inflated prices for commercial drones in South Africa. The study could assist agricultural sector organizations to understand factors that need to be managed in order to ensure adoption and use of drone technologies by farmers in South Africa.