Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2026, 72(2):101-119 | DOI: 10.17221/84/2025-AGRICECON

Nexus of agricultural informatisation and sustainable practices: Food security implications for drought-affected maize farmers in ZambiaOriginal Paper

Shangao Wang1, Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso ORCID...2,3, Xianhui Geng2, Emmanuel Kiprop2, Jotham Bett2, Dancun Kibiwott Kimwei2
1 School of Management, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, P.R. China
2 College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Weigang, Nanjing, P.R. China
3 Department of Agriculture and Agribusiness, Prince G Consultancy and Academy, Kabwe, Zambia

Agricultural informatisation (AgI) is hailed as a 'game-changer' for farmers worldwide, even as climate change increases agriculture's vulnerability to climatic risks and threatens sustainable agrifood production. While AgI aspires to help alleviate hunger and poverty in smallholder farm households by improving on-farm productivity through the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs), limited empirical evidence exists on the AgI–SAPs nexus, particularly under severe environmental stress such as drought. We analysed data from a survey of maize farmers in central Zambia – a country exemplifying the impact of severe drought, declared a national emergency and disaster – to explore whether and how AgI can optimise SAP adoption and improve crop yields. Given the potential endogeneity of AgI adoption, we employed a recursive bivariate probit (RBP) and endogenous-treatment regression (ETR) to estimate the former and the latter, respectively. We focused on adoption portfolios of three AgI tools – radio, television and mobile phones – and five SAPs: minimum tillage, residue retention, planting basins, improved seed varieties and irrigation. The results reveal that AgI adoption significantly influences SAP adoption, with varying impacts across different AgI and SAP portfolios. Importantly, the adoption of productivity-enhancing SAPs, particularly improved seed and drip irrigation, produced the largest yield effects (124.46 g/capita/day) for AgI adopters. This increase potentially contributes 43.21% towards daily maize-supply quantity, which is crucial for helping households meet the minimum recommended daily caloric intake. The study therefore underscores that AgI plays a critical role in improving yields through SAP adoption, serving as a compelling pathway for agricultural resilience, especially under adverse climatic conditions. These insights align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those aimed at zero hunger, climate action and poverty alleviation, which advocate re-thinking and transforming food-production strategies.

Keywords: information and communication technology; sustainable intensification;severe drought; maize yield; smallholder agrifood production

Received: February 26, 2025; Revised: October 7, 2025; Accepted: October 27, 2025; Prepublished online: January 26, 2026; Published: February 26, 2026  Show citation

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Wang S, Mwalupaso GE, Geng X, Kiprop E, Bett J, Kimwei DK. Nexus of agricultural informatisation and sustainable practices: Food security implications for drought-affected maize farmers in Zambia. Agric. Econ. - Czech. 2026;72(2):101-119. doi: 10.17221/84/2025-AGRICECON.
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