Fostering Food Security through Farmers' Intentions to Embrace Climate-Smart Agriculture: Unraveling the Impact of Attitude, Subjective Norms, and Behavioral Control

Abstract

Food security is a global challenge exacerbated by climate change, especially in lower-income countries. Promoting the implementation of climate-smart agricultural techniques holds significant importance to addressing this issue. This research investigates how farmers' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control impact a certain aspect/area on their intention to adopt CSA practices, ultimately contributing to increased food security. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior framework, this study investigates how farmers' attitudes toward CSAs, subjective norms within their social networks, and perceived ability to implement these practices influence their intentions to adopt CSAs. Data was collected through surveys and interviews with farmers in Cohen's table to determine the required sample size. Our findings show that farmers' attitudes towards CSA positively and significantly influence their intention to adopt climate-smart agricultural practices. Additionally, subjective norms are critical in shaping these intentions, indicating that social influence and support networks within farming communities are important in driving CSA adoption. Further, perceived behavioural control emerged as an important factor, highlighting the importance of farmers' confidence in their ability to implement CSA practices. This research underscores the importance of encouraging positive attitudes, strengthening social networks, and building farmers' confidence in adopting CSA practices to improve food security in lower-income countries. Policymakers, agricultural extension services, and development organizations can leverage these insights to formulate strategies and interventions to encourage the adoption of implementing climate-smart agriculture practices is essential to safeguard food security amidst the challenges posed by climate change.