*1.1. Why Irrigation?*

Irrigation refers to the systematic and artificial application of water to plants at regular intervals to assist in the growing of crops and maintenance of landscapes [33–35] and is usually classified as surface, sprinkler, and micro-irrigation [35,36]. Irrigated agriculture, which accounts for more than 70% of total global freshwater withdrawals [15,37], provides for about 40% of the world's agricultural production [38] from less than 20% of its area [39–41]. Asia continues to contribute the largest share of total irrigated area, followed by Latin America, while sub-Saharan Africa only contributes 6% of its cultivated area to irrigation [18,38].

Irrigation use increases and stabilizes crop production in areas that do not receive enough precipitation [42–44], and has helped shape the economies of many semi-arid and arid regions around the world [45,46]. It also contributes toward income stabilization of dependent communities by improving agricultural growth and smoothing production risk [47–49]. According to a study by Bhattarai et al. (2007) [50], irrigation use can provide direct benefits like increased crop production that go to individual farm owners and/or entire community(s), and indirect benefits that are accrued to the wider sectors of the economy. There can also be spillover effects, which is brought by the increased household spending in the local economy due to enhanced income and employment as a result of increased land productivity made possible by irrigation [48].

#### *1.2. Technology Adoption and Related Theories*

Adoption is the decision to use a particular technology or innovation by an individual [51,52], which then leads to its diffusion or dissemination within a social system [52,53]. There exists a plethora of literature on factors that determine the adoption of a technology. Various researchers even define 'technology' itself in different ways and based on their definitions and disciplinary backgrounds use different theories or models to study its adoption [29,54–57]. For instance, in marketing research, the purchase of a technology is often the focus rather than its actual use [53]. Within agriculture, scholars have commonly used economic models and theories to explain individual technology adoption decisions [57,58], which allow for only rational and objective decision-making behaviors of farmers, rather than their perceptions, and assume that they adopt technology only for profit or utility maximization [59,60]. Alternatively, some research has shifted analytical focus to the role of individual knowledge, perceptions, and/or attitudes in the decision-making process, which in turn are conditioned by extrinsic factors, such as characteristics of the individual (~age, gender, education levels, etc.) and their external environment [29,61]. While others have taken a relatively more macro-perspective as they focus not only on the individual but also on the characteristics of the technology in question and the infrastructure needed for its successful diffusion to comprehensively understand its spread across the entire society (or market) over time [51,62,63]. A more recent strand of literature on agricultural technology adoption has also included the role of social networks in influencing the adoption

of agricultural technologies [64–68]. Another key element associated with the adoption decisions is that of uncertainty or risk, which refers to the suitability of technology with an individual's characteristics including his/her experience or skillset, and with their local conditions (~agronomic, economic, and/or climatic) [57,69].

Since there exists no single model for understanding the decision-making processes in which an individual engages before adopting a certain technology, adoption is examined through a combination of research paradigms [55,57]. Moreover, these studies mostly utilize regression models to explain the uptake of technology as a function of several independent variables [70,71] including personal characteristics, preferences, individual attitudes, economic or institutional constraints, that are gathered either through census data, surveys, or personal interviews or a combination of it [29].

#### *1.3. Factors Affecting Irrigation Adoption*

Studies suggest that uptake of a new technology is rarely rapid, particularly among small farmers in developing countries [61,72,73], and with a wide range of factors acting as possible deterrents [72,74,75]. For example, a study in Burkina Faso (West Africa) of 629 farmers highlighted the need for farmers' training and information dissemination on irrigation to increase adoption [76]. Another study investigated factors affecting the adoption and application of sprinkler irrigation technology by farmers in the county of Famenin, Iran, and showed that the adoption was influenced by both environmental factors, such as farm size, access to water, water quality, and non-environmental factors, including workforce number in the family, employment diversity, and participation in extension education and courses on agricultural water management [77]. Another study investigated the sources of variation for on-farm irrigation systems across producer fields in Nebraska (USA) [42]. Their findings showed that biophysical factors such as soil, crop type, and weather, explained about half of the observed variations in field irrigation. However, the rest of the variations remained unexplained, suggesting that both producer behavior and skills played a significant role in shaping these decisions. Another study looked at the effect of production risk on irrigation technology choice among small-scale farmers in Chile and their results indicated that more educated farmers, with credit access, receiving extension services, and living in communes with other adopters were more likely to use modern irrigation techniques [78]. Another study of 1500 farmers from Henan Province in China found that the farmers who believed in climate change adopted adaptation measures like irrigation to respond to and mitigate its negative impacts [79]. Thus, understanding the kinds of factors influencing adoption decisions is crucial not only for the propagators of these technologies to increase the likelihood of their adoption but also for identifying the overall determinants of agricultural growth and development [80].
