Adoption of improved agricultural technologies can help achieve the two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of no poverty and zero hunger by 2030. This study investigates the determinants of farmers' adoption of hand tractors in the HKH region of Pakistan using binary logit model. We also examine what facilitates and what impedes the adoption of hand tractor adoption using key informant interviews. Results show that household head education, farming experience, knowledge of hand tractor use, access to credit, extension contact, and trust in technology positively affect the adoption of hand tractor; however farm size is negatively related. The findings reveal that ethnic conflicts, political conflicts, elite capture in decision making, unavailability of functional community-based entities, weak extension-farmers contact, as well as weak inter- and intra-community linkages are key barriers affecting hand tractor adoption. Similarly, observed changes on neighbors' fields, experiencing hand tractor on trial basis, communication networks, risk observations, and trust propensities motivate hand tractor adoption in the study region. Thus, to effectively disseminate improved agricultural technologies, policymakers should consider these factors.

Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development Schicklerstraße 5 16225 Eberswalde Germany

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamycka 129 16500 Praha Suchdol Czech Republic

Research Area 2 Land Use and Governance Working Group Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research Eberswalder Straße 84 15374 Müncheberg Germany

Research Center for Environment and Society Hohai University Nanjing 210098 China

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