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Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD) - Call for papers!

Farmer’s adoption of VietGAP tea certification in Tan Cuong area, Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam

(Vietnam), Doctor of Philosophy in Agricultural Economics (University of the Philippines Los Baños)

Dissertation Abstract:

The main objective of the study was to analyze the adoption of VietGAP certification among tea farmers in the Tan Cuong area, Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam. The study was designed based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with the hypothesis that farmer intention determined by attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control is primarily driven by the actual adoption of farmers.

Based on the random sample of 303 respondents, the study found that VietGAP tea production had higher production costs but brought more significant revenue and profit than conventional production. The global information on the economic benefit of VietGAP certification to farmers is widely acknowledged, and similar between the two farmer groups, but the awareness of the economic benefits is different among individual farmers.

The study also revealed that the profit and income benefits of VietGAP certification are insufficient to change farmers' actual behavior. Instead, the main drive for adopting VietGAP is the farmer's intention, which is affected by attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control.

Besides the expected benefits from VietGAP, the behavior belief on food safety, farmer health, and environmental protection of farmers are essential to determine attitude. Furthermore, the belief in the number of farmers adopting VietGAP increased, and the pressure from targeted consumers, government, family, and friends is essential to farmers' subjective norms. The weather, decision-making ability, and the control to implement VietGAP regarding time, capital, and labor are statistically significant influencers on farmers’ perceived behavior control. Besides farmers' experience, education and capital also positively influence the probability of the adoption of VietGAP.

The study recommends the provision of additional information for farmers to enhance their attitude, subjective norm, and perceived control, and intention toward VietGAP certification adoption. Specifically, more information on the benefit of VietGAP for farmers and consumers, training, weather information, farmer's decision-making ability, subsidies, and supporting policies regarding capital for farmers should be communicated.