The Role of Smart Agriculture for Sustainable Rural Development: Case Study of Basti Mithu, Multan

Abstract

Rural spaces have been neglected for a long time and consequently, they are in decline. The rural populations are migrating towards cities causing unnecessary pressures on the services of the urban cores. Smart village is a comprehensive strategy to improve all the aspects of village life and hence protecting the rural as well as releasing pressure on urban areas while also promoting agriculture. Five main dimensions for Smart village were found; Smart Agriculture, Sustainable energy, Inclusive Development, Knowledge-Based Economy, and ICT. For the purpose of finding the barriers to the implementation of the Smart Agriculture in Pakistan, a questionnaire was designed and data were collected from the selected villages of Multan. Factor analysis was performed to combine the numerous barriers into fewer concentrated and more meaningful groups. One of the main barriers found was the lack of funding and interest by the public institutions to improve the rural areas and the lack of infrastructure to support villages. An acceptability index was made through the composite index method to find out the acceptability of Smart Agriculture among the locals. A moderate level of acceptability was derived from the composite index with a low standard deviation concluding the uniform opinion among the locals. Finally, a smart village framework was devised for policy interventions and structural reformation of rural areas in Pakistan.