Open AccessFactors affecting the intention of sustainable agriculture practices among pepper farmers in Sarawak, Malaysia
Author(s) -
J. Semuroh,
Viduriati Sumin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
food research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2550-2166
DOI - 10.26656/fr.2017.5(s4).005
Subject(s) - theory of planned behavior , agriculture , sustainability , descriptive statistics , agricultural science , stratified sampling , business , marketing , hectare , sustainable agriculture , certification , geography , economics , mathematics , management , ecology , statistics , environmental science , control (management) , archaeology , biology
The demand for safe, hygienic, organic, and high-quality food products nowadays putspressure on farmers to produce and practice sustainability. Sustainable agriculturepractices (SAPs) are crucial to be implemented on every farm that produced foods toenable the supply of hygienic, safe food products and as a solution of pesticide-residueproblems towards a healthier lifestyle. However, the farmers' main challenges towardssustainability and hindering their penetration to the global market are the difficulties incomplying with the international standard of quality and certification compliance, such asMyGAP or Malaysian Good Agricultural Practices in cultivating, harvesting, andprocessing. MyGAP compliance showed that farmers are moving towards sustainableagriculture. This paper was aimed to assess the perception and the factors that influencethe Intention to implement SAPs in pepper cultivation among pepper farmers in Sarawak.Descriptive analysis and factor analysis were used to accomplish the objectives of thisstudy. Data collection was through interviews using a structured questionnaireadministered on registered farmers under the Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB), planted atleast 1 hectare or 2000 pepper trees in Bau and the District of Serian, Sarawak. Systematicstratified random sampling method was used based on the two different districts selectedas stratification. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was used as the conceptualframework to explain the farmers' behaviour towards SAPs. The results discovered fourlatent factors influencing Intention to practice SAPs: attitude, subjective norms, perceivedbehavioural Intention, and Intention, with the value of percentages of variance, explained13.554%, 27.912%, 12.506%, 8.771%, and 7.703%, respectively. Subjective normsshowed a high value of alpha at 0.935, followed by attitude (0.817) and Intention towardsSustainable Agriculture Practices (0.804). The findings provided the pepper farmers withinvaluable insight on the advantages of adopting sustainable agriculture practices toexpand their business locally and intentionally.