Determinants of CSA Adoption in Coastal Bangladesh: An Application of Structural Path Analysis

Abstract

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is widely promoted to reconcile productivity, resilience, and emissions goals among smallholder farmers, yet adoption of capital-intensive CSA technologies remains low and uneven in climate-vulnerable coastal agriculture. This study examines socio-demographic, institutional, and behavioral determinants of CSA adoption among farming households in selected coastal districts of Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study interviewed 386 farmers from 3 selected coastal districts of Bangladesh following a multi-stage random sampling. Results were interpreted using descriptive statistics, Spearman’s correlation, adoption-difficulty (quadrant) analysis, and structural path analysis. Adoption levels varied widely across 30 CSA practices. Low-cost, knowledge-based practices such as raised bed homestead gardening, airtight seed storage, and heat and salinity-tolerant crops were widely adopted, whereas capital-intensive technologies such as poly-net houses, solar irrigation, and the sorjan method remained rare. Extension communication showed the strongest association with extension strategies for promoting CSA (β = 0.551), whereas strategies for promoting CSA, knowledge of CSA, and climate change perception were important predictors of CSA adoption. Importantly, the ICT usage had a negative relationship with climate change perception, indicating a digital paradox whereby the higher connectivity does not lead to a better understanding of the issues related to climate change. The research shows that there is a necessity for combined extension approaches based on face-to-face extension efforts, participatory learning platforms, and credible digital technologies combined with strong farmer organizations for increasing CSA adoption in coastal Bangladesh.