The Determinants of Becoming Sustainable Agropreneurs: Evidence from the Bottom 40 Groups in Malaysia

Abstract

Training in the agricultural sector has been set as a continuing government agenda to educate people in rural areas. This study aims to identify several determinants that play a key role in developing sustainable agropreneurs in the Bottom 40 (B40) group in Perak, Malaysia. To this end, data were collected from 200 participants in the Agropreneur Community Training Program (ACTP). A quantitative research method was used for describing and analysing the collected data. The results showed that an internal factor, which was the agropreneurs’ attitudes towards behaviour, displayed a significant positive relationship with the expansion of the farm. As for the external factors, the results showed that family support and social networking have a significant positive relationship with increased income. Moreover, the results revealed that subjective norms exhibited a significant negative relationship with increasing income. Accordingly, more representative samples are required to verify the results of the postulated relationships between the internal and external factors of becoming a sustainable agropreneur in rural areas. The agricultural sector has become a pressing global concern, with issues such as natural disasters, wars, and climate change. Thus, the results of this study provide several theoretical and practical insights for government agencies, especially in developing countries, to execute more viable training programs for agropreneurs.