Understanding farmers' multi-crop choices in Southwest China: an extended theory of planned behavior case study

Abstract

Farmers' choice of diversified crops helps maintain relatively stable livelihoods in rural communities to a certain extent and serves as a key pathway to promoting the sustainable development of rural economies and agricultural systems. Currently, little attention has been paid to the influence of sociopsychological factors on farmers' willingness to choose diversified crops, and there is a lack of qualitative research-based analysis in this area. The central question of this study is: What drives farmers' decisions to cultivate diverse crops? This qualitative study employed ethnographic fieldwork methods to collect data from July 2023 to September 2024. Based on an analytical framework derived from the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior (ETPB), this paper identifies livelihood rationality and local culture as supplementary factors, which, together with attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, jointly explain farmers' willingness and behavior regarding crop diversification. The study found that farmers' crop diversification choices result from the interplay of multiple factors. Livelihood rationality and local culture exert a constraining influence on psychological and cognitive factors, constituting the underlying logic of farmers' crop selection behavior. This reflects the complexity of various influencing motives in the context of local society. Diverse cropping strategies are a livelihood strategy that manages multiple different tensions. Under these circumstances, agricultural policies and crop promotion should not be viewed merely as technical measures; government and market-driven crop promotion programs must not be guided solely by administrative objectives and efficiency, but should also take into account farmers' rational logic regarding livelihood security and the logic of local culture.