Assessing farmers' prioritization and adoption drivers of sustainable soil and land management practices in two-contrasting agro-ecologies in india: need for extension services

Given that soil degradation, water scarcity, and resource depletion pose challenges in smallholder-dominated agroecological zones, understanding SLMP adoption is crucial. However, farmers’ perceptions and adoption of sustainable land management practices (SLMPs) in developing countries remain largely unexplored. This study examines the drivers of SLMP adoption among 1,768 smallholder farmers in Varanasi and Mirzapur, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India, focusing on prioritization, determinants, and barriers to adoption. Using a multistage sampling technique, survey data were analysed through a multinomial logit model (MLM) and principal component analysis (PCA). The results show that access to agricultural information increases the likelihood of SLMP awareness by 64.3% (p < 0.01), while small landholders exhibit an 11.8% greater probability of adopting SLMPs (p < 0.05) than larger farmers do. PCA highlights that perceived benefits—such as improvements in soil moisture retention, erosion control, and soil organic matter—collectively explain 92% of the variance in Varanasi and 84% in Mirzapur, indicating that strong environmental motivations drive adoption. Additionally, district-level differences reveal that compared with Mirzapur, Varanasi farmers demonstrate significantly greater adoption of practices such as crop rotation (24.8%) and minimum tillage (18.2%). The findings underscore the critical role of extension services and timely information dissemination in enabling farmers to overcome knowledge and resource barriers, thereby promoting wider adoption of sustainable land management practices.