Abstract
Despite the various benefits of sustainable agricultural practices, sustainable rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta still faces significant barriers, and its total area is still limited. The government has been making efforts to promote national programs such as “Three Reductions, Three Gains,” “One Must Do Five Reductions,” and the Vietnam Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project (VnSAT) to improve farm income, farmer health, and the environment. Nevertheless, rice farmers’ decisions to implement sustainable agricultural practices depend significantly on their awareness and intention. This study aims to understand what influences rice farmers’ intentions and their behavior toward sustainable rice farming in the Mekong Delta, especially in Long An Province. Data were obtained through face-to-face interviews with 163 rice farmers in two districts of Long An Province. Structural equation modeling was applied to explore the relationship among constructs built on the Theory of Planned Behavior. The estimated structural equation model demonstrates substantial effects of knowledge on attitude, of knowledge on intention, of subjective norms on intention, and of intention on behavior toward sustainable agriculture. The knowledge-intention-behavior path has a favorable, fully mediating impact. Knowledge was the most significant variable in forming attitude and intention, while subjective norms also played a crucial role in intention. On the other hand, the findings indicate that the direct influence of subjective norms on farmers’ behavior is weaker for farming rice in sustainable ways than for coping with climate change or extreme weather events. Policy initiatives must be implemented to provide more educational programs, such as vocational training, demonstrating model fields to farmers, and pooling land for large-scale production to enable the effective application of technology in agriculture.
https://ror.org/03030f487 
