Identifying socio-psychological constructs and beliefs underlying farmers’ intention to adopt on-farm silos

Abstract

Brazil is one of the leading countries in production and exportation of grains. However, most grain production regions in Brazil do not have an adequate storage capacity, which result in losses for the grain supply chain. A possible solution to increase storage capacity is the adoption of on-farm silos. We used the Reasoned Action Approach as a framework to identify the impact of attitude, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control on farmers' intention to adopt on-farm silos and to identify the most important beliefs underlying their intentions to adopt it. A survey was conducted with 170 farmers in Brazil. Data was analyzed by means of Partial-Least-Square Structural Equation Modeling and MIMIC models. Results showed that attitude was the main determinant of intention, followed by perceived behavioral control and injunctive norms. Results also showed that "Sell grains at higher price", "Have independence in relation to grain storage firms", and "Have control over grain classification" are the most important beliefs that drive attitude; "Bank" is the most important belief that drive perceived norm; and "Have easy access to silos", "Prioritize other investments", and "Need skilled workers" are the most important beliefs that drive perceived behavioral control. These results revealed important implications to design public and private interventions aimed to stimulate the adoption of on-farm silos.

Analysis of farmers’ environmental sustainability behavior: the use of norm activation theory (a sample from Iran)

“… Yazdanpanah et al ( 2016 ) 3 I destroy the weeds around the water canals. Vaz et al ( 2020 ) 4 I use modern irrigation methods. Vaz et al ( 2020 ) 5 I use drought-resistant seeds.…”

“… Vaz et al ( 2020 ) 4 I use modern irrigation methods. Vaz et al ( 2020 ) 5 I use drought-resistant seeds. Self-developed 6 When irrigating, I use irrigation wastewater.…”

“… Self-developed Integrated pest management ( α = 0.79) 1 I use disinfected seeds. Vaz et al ( 2020 ) 2 For weed control, I use mechanical methods (weeding, rooting, etc.). Vaz et al ( 2020 ) 3 I use autumn plowing to destroy pest infestations.…”

“… Vaz et al ( 2020 ) 2 For weed control, I use mechanical methods (weeding, rooting, etc.). Vaz et al ( 2020 ) 3 I use autumn plowing to destroy pest infestations. Self-developed 4 I remove the contaminated plants.…”

Farmer Behaviour as Reasoned Action: A Critical Review of Research with the Theory of Planned Behaviour

“…In terms of consumer behaviour, some recent applications include the consumption of organic food (see Scalco et al, 2020 for a review), fruits (Canova et al, 2020), and novel foods, such as insect-based products (Menozzi et al, 2017) . On the producer (farmer) side, many applications can be found as well, most prominently in the area of conservation and biosecurity and disease control (Sok et al, 2015;Borges et al, 2016;Daxini et al, 2019;Vaz et al, 2020). The TPB has also been used in discrete choice experiments to provide explanations for preference heterogeneity (Nocella et al, 2012;Sok et al, 2018a) and in agentbased modelling of farmer behaviour.…”