Phygital extension drives climate-resilient smallholder transitions: Evidence from a large-scale randomised trial in India

Smallholders are central to global food security but remain highly exposed to climate change. The adoption of sustainable land management practices (SLMPs) offers a proven path to resilience, but progress is constrained by persistent information gaps and weak extension systems, which have slowed down adoption. Strengthening extension delivery through digital advisory services (DAS) can bridge these gaps by ensuring timely, context-specific guidance, thereby accelerating SLMP adoption and enhancing climate resilience among smallholders. Here, we report findings from a large-scale randomised controlled trial with 1760 households across 160 villages in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India and evaluate three models of DASs: agent-based, self-service and hybrid model approaches. In this study, we applied a difference-in-differences (DiD) method to estimate causal impacts on smallholders' awareness and adoption of SLMPs by using baseline and endline surveys conducted in 2023 and 2025, respectively. The results show that the farmers who used a digital advisory app, directly or indirectly, significantly outperformed the control villages. While widely known practices like earth bunds, organic manure, drainage ditches, minimum tillage, crop rotation and green manuring showed little additional improvement, digital advisory services were particularly effective in promoting the uptake of less familiar or under utilised practices like erosion control bunds, water harvesting bunds, tree belts and intercropping. These findings provide the first experimental evidence that a digital advisory system with an in-person agent can accelerate smallholder transitions toward adoption of climate-resilient farming practices specific to SLMP. Scaling such approaches globally would reinforce food security andsupport progress towards the Unites Nations Sustainable Development Goals particularly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).