Phung Quang Anh, Dao Nga
Department of Social Science, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J1P3, Canada.
Heliyon. 2024 Mar 27;10(7):e28576. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28576. eCollection 2024 Apr 15.
While economic growth and food security in Vietnam's Red River Delta are heavily reliant on agriculture, the intensive use of agricultural land has resulted in various negative impacts on the environment, such as soil degradation, water pollution, biodiversity loss, and health effects on humans and animals. The current situation emphasizes an increased need for sustainable agriculture practices in the region. Understanding farmers' decision-making processes and identifying factors that influence their choices is crucial in order to promote their adoption of sustainable agriculture practices. This study examines the impact of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, age, and gender on farmers' intention to adopt sustainable agriculture practices using the Theory of Planned Behavior and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The results show that attitude towards sustainable agriculture practices showed a path coefficient of 0.310 (p < 0.001), and perceived behavioral control had a coefficient of 0.305 (p < 0.001), indicating strong positive relationships with intention. However, subjective norms, despite a positive coefficient, did not significantly affect intentions (path coefficient 0.099, p > 0.05). Age was found to have a moderating effect; older farmers are less likely to adopt sustainable agriculture practices compared to their younger counterparts. Gender, however, did not present a significant influence. In light of these findings, policymakers face a challenge in creating incentives to encourage farmers' engagement in sustainable agriculture practices in the Red River Delta and at the same time discourage youth out-migration from the agricultural sector more generally. Overall, this study enriches our theoretical understanding of the factors influencing sustainable agriculture adoption in developing countries and offers practical insights for policymakers and agricultural stakeholders in the Red River Delta to promote more effective and targeted sustainable agriculture practices.
越南红河三角洲的经济增长和粮食安全严重依赖农业，但农业用地的集约化使用已对环境造成了各种负面影响，如土壤退化、水污染、生物多样性丧失以及对人类和动物健康的影响。当前形势凸显了该地区对可持续农业实践的需求日益增加。了解农民的决策过程并确定影响其选择的因素对于促进他们采用可持续农业实践至关重要。本研究运用计划行为理论和偏最小二乘结构方程模型，考察态度、主观规范、感知行为控制、年龄和性别对农民采用可持续农业实践意愿的影响。结果表明，对可持续农业实践的态度路径系数为0.310（p<0.001），感知行为控制系数为0.305（p<0.001），表明与意愿呈强烈正相关。然而，主观规范尽管系数为正，但对意愿没有显著影响（路径系数0.099，p>0.05）。研究发现年龄具有调节作用；与年轻农民相比，年长农民采用可持续农业实践的可能性较小。然而，性别并未呈现出显著影响。鉴于这些发现，政策制定者在制定激励措施以鼓励红河三角洲的农民参与可持续农业实践，同时更广泛地抑制年轻人从农业部门外流方面面临挑战。总体而言，本研究丰富了我们对发展中国家影响可持续农业采用因素的理论理解，并为红河三角洲的政策制定者和农业利益相关者提供了实用见解，以促进更有效和有针对性的可持续农业实践。
