Antecedents of biochar adoption for sustainable agriculture and circular economy

The modern world faces significant economic and climate challenges while facing a dynamic shifts and realignment in world order. With a global population of over 8 billion, food security has also become a critical issue for the nations, particularly for developing economies. Consequently, the sustainability of agriculture, especially via innovations like biochar, lies at the crossroads of economic, social, and food security issues. Hence, the current model explores this vital avenue of technological, social, and policy factors influencing the adoption of sustainable agricultural solutions like biochar. A dualistic approach was employed, combining a comprehensive literature review to identify key technology adoption theories and an application of the Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) method to rank the relevant technological, social and policy factors. The findings indicate that technological aspects such as perceived usefulness and ease of use are the most influential in the context of biochar adoption. At the same time, social norms and government regulations are the dominant social and policy factors, respectively. The study recommends peer learning and farm demonstrations to enhance technological awareness and utilisation. Furthermore, institutions should focus on farmer training, piloting solar-biochar models, and providing technical support. The government and regulators can facilitate adoption by offering targeted subsidies and tax incentives for private sector investments in sustainable technologies, thereby significantly improving biochar adoption rates.