| Sumario: | Objective: The study aimed to explore the entrepreneurial mindset and the factors influencing smallholder coffee farmers' intentions to adopt or continue adopting climate-smart agriculture technologies with a case study in greater Luwero, Uganda.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 230 smallholder coffee farmers in greater Luwero, Uganda, formed the basis for the study. Data was collected using a questionnaire based on the Business model canvas, Theory of Planned Behavior, Entrepreneurial Orientation theory, and Diffusion of Innovation Theory. The study employed structural equation modelling to predict farmer attitudes and intentions to adopt or continue adopting climate-smart agriculture technologies and cluster analysis to group farmers based on their entrepreneurial mindset.
Results: Segmentation analysis identified four groups of coffee farmers; 20.4% enterprising, 40.9% indecisive, 25.2% conservative and 13.5% non-enterprising and they differ significantly based on farmer characteristics and compliance with business model canvas elements. The perceived innovation characteristics significantly predicted coffee farmers' attitudes toward adopting climate-smart agriculture technologies. While subjective norms constitute a potential barrier, attitudes, perceived behavioural control, and entrepreneurial orientation merged to positively and significantly influence coffee farmers' intention to adopt climate-smart agriculture technologies. On average, 80% of coffee farmers intend to adopt labour-intensive climate-smart agriculture technologies, compared to only 49.2% for capital-intensive technologies, of which 87% were enterprising coffee farmers.
Conclusion: The study's findings added to the literature regarding adopting agricultural technologies, notably entrepreneurial orientation, a novel variable in assessing farmers' intentions to adopt new technologies. The small percentage of enterprising farmers indicates a low level of entrepreneurism among coffee farmers hence the low intentions to adopt climate-smart agriculture technologies. Future studies should validate these findings and consider the multidimensional perspective of entrepreneurial orientation, use data gathered over time, look at actual adoption rates, and assess the impact of climate-smart agriculture technologies. Examining how farmer entrepreneurial mindset and perceptions influence climate-smart agriculture adoption intention offers a solid platform for more targeted scaling policies and intervention strategies to be designed and implemented in a more sustainable manner.
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