Smart irrigation techniques have the potential for improving water application efficiencies at the farm level, thereby helping to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture and providing an economic advantage to farmers. Here we gauge the willingness of farmers to use smart irrigation techniques in water management by conducting a cross-sectional national survey of 678 farmers in Lebanon. A primary objective was to find out whether farmers are willing to adopt the use of smart irrigation mobile applications in their cultural practices. Other survey questions were designed to find out the drivers of the willingness or lack thereof. Descriptive statistics along with simple/multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the associations of sociodemographic variables, cultivated land, water and fuel cost, irrigation system type, groundwater depth, water source, and other irrigation management characteristics with the likelihood of using a free smart irrigation application in the study population. Results revealed that 90% of farmers agree that better irrigation management can improve the economic productivity of their farms, and a similar percentage agreed that they are willing to use free smart mobile applications to assist them in managing (scheduling) irrigation for their crops. Results also indicated that among all sociodemographic characteristics considered in this study, age, nationality, and region were significantly associated with the use of a paid smart irrigation app. Willingness to pay was 57%, with younger farmers and those using energy or electricity, and those paying more for energy and water, more willing to pay. Farmers planting citrus and banana trees were more likely to use smart irrigation apps than those planting other crops such as potatoes and vegetables. The findings help identify the factors influencing the adoption of smart irrigation applications in agriculture, which will provide insights into the interlinkages between irrigation management and infrastructure and sociodemographic variables.

智能灌溉技术具有改善农场用水效率的潜力，从而有助于减少农业对环境的影响并为农民提供经济利益。在这里，我们通过对黎巴嫩的678名农民进行了一次全国性的调查，评估了农民在水管理中使用智能灌溉技术的意愿。一个主要目标是确定农民是否愿意在其文化实践中采用智能灌溉移动应用程序。还设计了其他调查问题，以找出意愿或缺乏意愿的驱动因素。进行了描述性统计以及简单/多重Logistic回归分析，以探索社会人口统计学变量，耕地，水和燃料成本，灌溉系统类型，地下水深度，水源和其他灌溉管理特征，并有可能在研究人群中使用免费的智能灌溉应用程序。结果显示，有90％的农民同意更好的灌溉管理可以提高农场的经济生产力，并且有类似的百分比的农民同意他们愿意使用免费的智能移动应用程序来协助他们管理（计划）作物灌溉。结果还表明，在这项研究中考虑的所有社会人口统计学特征中，年龄，国籍和地区与付费智能灌溉应用程序的使用显着相关。支付意愿为57％，其中年轻的农民以及使用能源或电力的农民，而支付更多能源和水的农民则愿意支付。种植柑橘和香蕉树的农民比种植马铃薯和蔬菜等其他作物的农民更可能使用智能灌溉应用程序。研究结果有助于确定影响智能灌溉技术在农业中应用的因素，这将提供有关灌溉管理与基础设施与社会人口学变量之间的相互联系的见解。