Farmers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards the adoption of hybrid rice production in Bangladesh: an PLS-SEM approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although the government policy supports the adoption of hybrid rice in Bangladesh but there is no significant progress has been made over the last decades. The study aimed to determine farmers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) of hybrid rice adoption, and the causal relationship between them in Bangladesh. Using a stratified random sampling technique, 244 cross-sectional surveys were done from the Sherpur district of Bangladesh. The descriptive statistics, two-round Delphi method, and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) were used to estimate latent variables and identify the causal relationship between KAPs. The results revealed that farmers’ knowledge and attitudes were directly and significantly associated with the adoption of hybrid rice. This implies that farmers who are well informed about the usage of hybrid rice and are likely to embrace it and raise their revenue, can be influenced by knowledge. The study found a significant positive role for knowledge about hybrid rice, attitudes, and practices in adopting hybrid rice. This study provides a primary understanding of the relationship between psychological factors and the adoption of hybrid rice technology to increase rice farm productivity. The findings suggest that policymakers, researchers and development agencies should focus on farmers’ psychological factors in improving the adoption of hybrid rice in Bangladesh.