Abstract
Sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) are critical to improving agricultural productivity and food security for smallholders in India, despite a variety of environmental challenges. The study attempts to determine various factors that affect Sustainable agricultural practices and their knowledge and adoption likelihood among Indian farmers. The impact of socio-demographic factors, social engagement, awareness levels, risk orientation, and innovativeness on knowledge and adoption of Sustainable agricultural practices were assessed. The dataset is based on a structured questionnaire survey conducted in four different districts of Andhra Pradesh, a southern state in India during 2017–2018. The sample consists of 240 farmers, 60 from each district. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses are carried out to arrive at meaningful explanations. Results show that the distribution of knowledge and adoption of Sustainable agricultural practisesin the different districts have greater disparities as per descriptive chi-square values. Logistic regression analysis indicates that farming experience between 10 and 20 years, higher educational status, higher awareness levels, active social participation, better risk orientation, higher level of innovativeness contributes significantly towards knowledge enhancement of the farmers. Based on the findings, 63.6% of farmers with high and intermediate levels of knowledge have moderate to high adoption, while 37% of farmers with better knowledge have lower adoption. Farmers with little knowledge often have a low rate of adoption of Sustainable agricultural practises. The study also argues that the availability of information and greater exposure of the target population to the associated risks and innovativeness have a positive and important impact on awareness and intention to implement sustainable agriculture practises.
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Acknowledgements
Authors would like to acknowledge Dr. T Srinivas, Principal Investigator and Biotech KISAN Hub facilitator, Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University for conducting the baseline survey among farmers of various districts of Andhra Pradesh. Authors would also like to acknowledge Department of Biotechnology for their Biotech KISAN mission under which the study was conducted.
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RA and MKT conceived of the presented idea. RA developed the theory and MKT performed the computations. RA verified the analytical methods. RA supervised the findings of this work. All authors discussed the results and contributed equally to the final manuscript.
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Ashrit, R.R., Thakur, M.K. Is awareness a defining factor in the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices? Evidence from small holder farmers in a southern state of India. SN Soc Sci 1, 218 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00222-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00222-6