While technical tools are essential, most powerful engine for green farming might actually be the people behind the plow. In the face of a global push for sustainable agriculture, governments and organizations urgently need to provide farmers with the knowledge required to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
However, they argue that understanding exactly how training leads to real-world change among small-scale farmers remains a difficult challenge. By taking a human resource approach, the study examines the connections between training effectiveness and the specific psychological and demographic traits of the farmers themselves.
After surveying 331 small farmers involved in a large government-led program, the authors found that success isn’t just about a single lesson; instead, it requires long-term exposure to training, a genuine inner motivation to learn, and the farmers’ own capacity to innovate.
The researchers demonstrate that these factors together make training programs much more effective, helping to drive the widespread adoption of sustainable habits. Ultimately, the authors provide a new model—grounded in theories of motivation and education—that explains how the quality of training and a farmer’s mindset work together to achieve global sustainability targets.
Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-11-2023-0655
Reference:
Pandey, S. C., Modi, P., Pereira, V., & Fosso Wamba, S. (2025). Empowering small farmers for sustainable agriculture: A human resource approach to SDG-driven training and innovation. International Journal of Manpower, 46(4), 652–675.