A solution for the sunset industry: Adoption of Green Fertiliser Technology amongst Malaysian paddy farmers

Modernising agricultural activity is a key to boost the production level at high efficiency. The paddy industry in Malaysia has been blighted with underproduced yield, which can be intervened with the adoption of Green Fertiliser Technology (GFT) amongst farmers. In this paper, the researchers have measured the intention level of farmers to adopt GFT based on the psychological aspects based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour(TPB). This study is a continuation of the previous studies by observing the direct and, more importantly, the indirect effects of the psychological aspects. Surveys were conducted in the main rice granary areas in Malaysia, such as Integrated Agricultural Development Authorities (IADA), Kemubu Agricultural Development Authorities (KADA), and muda Agricultural Development Authorities (MADA). To check the effects of the psychological factors, the partial least squares – structural equations modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was used to check the significance of those factors towards the intention to adopt GFT amongst those farmers. The results have shown that direct and indirect attitude and indirect subjective norm, as well as direct-indirect perceived behavioural control, have a positive and significant influence on the intention of adopting. More importantly, the results have established behavioural beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs to correspondingly affect attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control. Overall, the study represents a guidance for key stakeholders to promote sustainable agriculture methods and innovations. These results advance theoretical understanding of GFT and potentially contribute to predicting Malaysian paddy farmers behaviour.