From tradition to technology: understanding the key barriers of Agriculture 4.0 adoption in Bangladesh

The agricultural sector is crucial for the economic growth of developing countries like Bangladesh, where many rely on farming. Agriculture significantly contributes to global food security but faces challenges such as economic instability and environmental degradation. Agriculture 4.0 integrates digital technologies like the internet of things, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and robotics, promising enhanced productivity, sustainability, and efficiency. This study explores Agriculture 4.0's potential in Bangladesh, identifies key adoption barriers, and analyses their interrelations using the single-valued neutrosophic decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (SVN-DEMATEL) method with neutrosophic logic. It pinpoints 15 major challenges, emphasising inaccessibility to technology, high costs, and lack of management support as main obstacles. The result suggests 'Intrinsic drive of farmers, ' 'Insufficient management support, ' and 'Inaccessibility to modern technology' as the most significant barriers, with values 0.542447, 0.354056, and 0.351115. The findings call for strategic policymaking and collaboration to promote smart, sustainable agriculture and food security.