Supplementary file 1_Determinants of farmers’ willingness to adopt technologies for the agroecological and precision management of potato pests and diseases in Rwanda.docx

Farmers primarily used synthetic pesticides to manage aerial pests and foliar diseases, while preventive agronomic practices were used to manage soil-borne pests and diseases. The use of biopesticides remained extremely limited and farmers were aware of the negative impacts of pesticide misuse and expressed a strong willingness to adopt better pest management practices. Knowledge of precision agriculture technologies was mainly limited (79%).

Farmers associated precision agriculture primarily with mechanization, whereas awareness of drones, sensors and digital decision-support tools was limited. They demonstrated highly positive perceptions toward precision agriculture (90%) and a strong willingness to learn more (87%). The results of the logistic regression showed that mobile phone usage (OR = 20.58, p < 0.01) and the willingness to adopt agroecological practices (OR = 67.73, p < 0.001) were associated with a higher likelihood of expressing willingness to adopt precision agriculture technologies.</p>Discussion<p>These results highlight the opportunity to integrate precision agroecology approaches in Rwanda.

Mobile-based advisory systems and low-cost digital technologies could serve as effective entry points for promoting sustainable potato production systems among smallholder farmers.</p>