The role of agricultural extension services in shaping agrochemicals safety behaviour among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s inclusive agroecology transition

The role of agricultural extension services in shaping agrochemicals safety behaviour among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s inclusive agroecology transition | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The role of agricultural extension services in shaping agrochemicals safety behaviour among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s inclusive agroecology transition Isaac Kwasi Asante, John Kwesi Ocran, Enoch Teye Kwao Ametepey, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8949943/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ghana’s pineapple industry significantly contributes to national economic growth, but heightened agrochemical use poses a serious health and environmental risk. The study investigates the drivers of safe agrochemicals use behaviour among pineapple farmers in the Central and Eastern Regions of Ghana, with particular attention on how agricultural extension services shape this behaviour within the framework of inclusive agroecology. Using a multi-stage sampling technique, 301 farmers were surveyed via structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Key finding include: farmers’ attitude explained 26% of the variance in intention to adopt safety behaviour while intention accounted for 21% of the variance in actual safety behaviour. Surprisingly, extension services showed no direct effect on intention and actual behaviour in the model. Most farmers (59.1%) accessed safety information via processing companies and extension agents. The mean farming experience was 11.16 ± 8.20 years, and the average age was 42.52 ± 15.02 years. Given these results, policymakers, especially the Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, should re-evaluate training programmes and collaborate more closely with processing firms to improve safety practices among pineapple farmers. The findings provide evidence on how extension systems can support progress towards Sustainable Development Goals related to health, responsible production, and ecosystem protection. The study highlights the need for revised extension approaches that more effectively translate knowledge and attitude into behaviour in agroecological transitions. Agrochemical safety behaviour Agricultural extension behavioural intention Inclusive agroecology Pineapple farmers Ghana PLS-SEM Theory of Planned Behaviour Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Introduction Pineapple ( Ananas comosus (L.) Merri.), is a popular and nutrient-dense fruit that is cultivated across many tropical and subtropical nations worldwide and is a significantly traded crop ( 1 ). It is an excellent source of minerals and Vitamins (C, A and E) in human diets ( 2 ). The crop is produced in many developing nations, where smallholder farmers dominate the rural population and cultivate less than two hectares of farm land ( 3 ). Around the world, pineapple is mostly consumed in the form of canned pineapple slices, chucks and dice, fruit salad, citric acid, pineapple juice, sugar syrup, pineapple chips, alcohol and puree ( 4 ). Due to its appealing aroma constituents, nutritional value, high demand and affordable retail prices, the market has been expanding significantly ( 1 ). For instance, in 20221, Ghana exported $ 29 million and ranked second behind Cote d’Ivoire – the highest pineapple producer in Africa ( 5 ). Statistics show that its export created about 20,000 jobs and accounted for 60% of Ghana’s non-traditional export value ( 6 , 7 ). According to Annor et al. ( 8 ), export revenue enables pineapple farm enterprises to purchase improved capital inputs, such as farm equipment, which eventually increase farm output and open up new economic prospects among smallholder farmers. Ghana’s Central, Eastern, Grater Accra, and Volta regions are the primary locations for pineapple production ( 2 ). Three primary cultivars of pineapple are cultivated; these are the conical shaped extremely sweet, Sugarloaf (SL), the sweet juicy Smooth cayenne (SC) and the MD2 variety, which Del Monte introduced to Costa Rica ( 6 ). The production of these cultivars is labour intensive, therefore, to achieve optimum yield, smallholder pineapple farmers apply agrochemicals in its different derivatives (fungicides, herbicides, agrochemicals, insecticides, and fertilizers) to control pest and diseases, and weeds, and improve other agronomic practices in the farm ( 9 ). Unfortunately, prior studies have reported that agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers has increased with at least 10 types of agrochemicals employed from planting to harvesting ( 10 ). Serious concerns about food safety, human health and the environment have been raised by industry players on the evidence of increasing trends of improper, unsafe, and indiscriminate agrochemical usage, as well as an increased use of unapproved application among farmers ( 11 ). Again, it is noted that less than 1% of agrochemicals used to control pest actually reach the intended pests, while the remainder contaminates the environment by entering the soil, water and the air ( 12 ). Agrochemicals residue also frequently finds its way into the pineapple food chain, where it can seriously harm human health ( 13 ). For example, substantial malignant diseases and food poisoning cases have been attributed to agrochemicals residual effect ( 14 – 16 ). Research indicates that Ghanaian food crop farmers and by extension pineapple farmers apply agrochemicals at rates that are between 1.3 and 13 times greater than those that are recommended ( 17 ). This case is confirmed by Eyi-Mensah ( 18 ) which in a laboratory analysis detected high levels of agrochemical residue in pineapple fruits exceeding safety limits in the Central Region of Ghana. To lesson serious risks to the environment, food safety and public health issues, Ghanaian pineapple farmers’ practices and behaviour towards safe use of agrochemicals must be improved, hence, farmers need to be trained to use and handle agrochemicals in safer ways ( 11 ). Unfortunately, studies on behaviour of pineapple farmers towards the safe use of agrochemicals are limited ( 19 ). Many scholars have adopted the Ajzen's ( 20 ) Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and its extended version to predict the behaviour of farmers towards adopting safety use of agrochemicals ( 21 – 24 ). Bagheri et al. ( 23 ) used TPB as base model to examine farmers’ behaviour in reading and using risk information on pesticides labels in Iran. Savari et al. ( 24 ) integrated norm activation model (NAM) and TPB to explain farmers’ pro-environmental intentions which demonstrated the integration potential of ethical/social dimensions of TPB. Pirmoghni et al. ( 21 ) used TPB to model knowledge, attitude and behaviour of tomato growers towards pesticides exposure. Sapkota et al. ( 22 ) adopted the extended TPB model adding norm and awareness to study horticultural farmers. The additional variables in the TPB, increased the explanatory power of the model, justifying the strong predictive power of the extended TPB. Demi and Sicchia ( 25 ) provides Ghana-specific background information on unsafe agrochemical practices. Boateng et al. ( 26 ) highlights the need for improved safety training and institutional support to advance farmers’ safety behaviour toward agrochemical use. Eyi-Mensah ( 18 ) provides justification for safety behaviour intervention programmes among pineapple farmers in farmers in Ghana. FAO and WHO ( 27 ) recommends farmer education, safe handing, the use of PPEs and institutional oversight for agrochemical use among farmers globally, thus this study is very relevant and ethically significant as it would provide empirical data for policy makers for promulgate policies to improve agrochemical use behaviour among pineapple farmers in Ghana. Improving agrochemical safety behaviour is important component of sustainable agricultural transformation. Extension services are supposed to assist farmers change their behaviour in many developing nations, helping in striking a balance between productivity and environmental and health protection [7]. The purpose of this study was to determine how Ghanaian pineapple farmers’ agrochemicals safety behaviour are influenced by agricultural extension services and to evaluate their contribution to the nation’s shift to inclusive and sustainable agroecological farming systems. This study specifically sought to examine [1] pineapple farmers’ sources of information on safe agrochemicals use, [2] personal protective equipment used for agrochemicals application, [3] extension methods used for receiving intervention on safe agrochemicals use, and [4] safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in Ghana especially, in the Central and Eastern regions. This study was carried out to determine the factors influencing safety behaviour and intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) ( 20 , 28 ), given the inadequate knowledge regarding the subject of the current research. The TPB and conceptual model structures is covered in the next section. Theoretical Framework One of the most significant models in the realm of technology adoption is the TPB model, which was developed by Ajzen ( 20 ). The intention and behaviour of users to adopt a technology is analysed by the TPB model ( 29 – 31 ). Research indicate that the explanatory power of the variation in a user’s behaviour and intention to embrace a technology in the agricultural and other contexts can be explained by TPB ( 32 – 34 ). Three primary constructs in this model - attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control – all relate to the intention and behaviour of utilising a technology ( 35 , 36 ). The TPB model was designed by ( 20 ) by extending the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) ( 37 ). According to the theory, behaviour results from intention, which is impacted by attitudes towards that behaviour, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control ( 20 ). Although control over the execution of the behaviour must also be taken into account, intentions are the most important immediate predictor of behaviour ( 28 ). Intentions are indications that people are ready to engage in a specific future behaviour ( 38 ). Intention therefore is determined by the readiness to execute the behaviour ( 39 ). The present study is predicated on the idea that intention accurately predicts planned behaviour, particularly when that behaviour is difficult to monitor ( 37 ). Likewise, because of the nature of the present study, the actual behaviour of pineapple farmers towards safe agrochemicals use has taken place several times over since agrochemicals spraying is a routine activity in pineapple production ( 9 ). Some studies have predicted the direct relationship between intention and behaviour ( 11 , 40 , 41 ). Therefore, policymakers who are concerned with food safety, environmental sustainability and public health issues can benefit from knowing what pineapple farmers’ intention and behaviour towards safe pesticide use are. In that respect, the following hypothesis was put out by the current study: H 01 : Intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use predicts their safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use. This study employed an extended TPB model with four constructs, acknowledging the study’s purpose and relevant literature: attitude towards safe agrochemicals use, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and effectiveness of extension training interventions on safe agrochemicals use. Attitude refers to an individual’s favourable or negative reaction to an activity ( 29 , 31 , 42 ). Prior research has demonstrated favourable correlations between attitudes and intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use in other contexts. For instance, Bagheri et al. ( 12 ) found that attitude showed impact on intention toward famers’ practices for handling agrochemicals safely in Meshginshahr of Ardabil Province, India. Asante et al. ( 11 ) found positive influence on intention of smallholder farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use in the Upper East region of Ghana. In Turkey, Baydur et al. ( 30 ) also found attitude as the only predictor of farmers’ intention towards health and safety behaviour. Consequently, a second research hypothesis was proposed: H 02 : Attitude towards safe agrochemicals is positively correlated to pineapple farmers’ intention to engage in safe agrochemicals use. The norms and values upheld by individuals as well as the pressure from society to carry out that action impact on a person’s intention to engage in that activity ( 20 ). Therefore, subjective norms are defined as perceived pressure to act from influential people (such as family, friends, colleague farmers, buyers and extension agents) ( 43 , 44 ). In the Far Province of Iran, Maleksaeidi and Keshavarz ( 45 ) reported that subjective norm influenced farmers’ intention to conserve in-farm biodiversity. Govindharaj et al. ( 46 ) found that in Eastern India, subjective norm was a determinant of rice farmers’ intention to use agrochemicals. It is therefore important to understand how environment affects farmers’ intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use, since their attitudes and opinions of significant other might influence their involvement in the industry ( 40 ). Consequently, a third research hypothesis was proposed: H 03 : Subjective norms positively correlated to pineapple farmers’ intention to engage in safe agrochemicals use. Perceived behavioural control (PBC) is the ease or difficulty of an activity that is frequently used: the more someone feels that they have control over how the behaviour is carried out, the more likely they are to act in that way ( 47 ). PBC has continuously been associated with safe application of agrochemicals among famers, despite rather contradictory results of previous studies. Farmers who believe in sustainable agriculture have a greater intention to engage in safe agrochemicals use in their farming activities ( 11 ). This is based on the premise that people are more likely to choose actions they feel are masterful and controllable ( 40 ). Aliabadi et al. ( 44 ) researched into rural people’s intention to adopt sustainable water management by rain water harvesting practices and reported a significant impact on intention by perceived behavioural control. Gholamrezai et al. ( 43 ) studied pro-environmental behaviour among green poultry farmers and found a significant relationship between PBC and intention. According to the TPB, farmers’ perceptions of the viability of carrying out safe agrochemicals use are influenced by their perceived behavioural control, and this view is therefore thought to be helpful in reaching the objective of adopting safe agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers. Consequently, a fourth research hypothesis was proposed: H 04 : Perceived behavioural control is positively correlated with pineapple farmers’ intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use. Previous studies have reported that PBC have significant effect on actual behaviour ( 11 , 48 , 49 ). Carfora et al. ( 48 ) examined consumer purchase behaviour for organic milk and concluded that PBC significantly impacts on behaviour in Italy. Asante et al. ( 11 ) reported that in Ghana’s Upper East region, vegetable farmers’ safe agrochemicals behaviour is influenced positively by PBC. Therefore, a fifth research hypothesis was proposed: H 05 : Perceived behavioural control is positively correlated to pineapple farmers’ safe agrochemicals use. TPB has limitations, just like any other theory, and LaMorte ( 50 ) summarises the limitations as follows: that it makes the assumptions that the person regardless of the purpose, has the resources and opportunities necessary to successfully carry out the desired behaviour, and it also ignores the other elements that influence the behaviour and intention such as risk, anxiety, mode and prior experience. Fishbein and Ajzen ( 28 ) proposed that the model can be extended to improve its predictability. Some studies have effectively extended the TPB model to great effect ( 46 , 51 , 52 ). The present study sought to use the extended TPB model due to the recommendations of Tsakiris et al. ( 53 ) that more research is required to determine the effectiveness of interventions that could enhance farmers’ safety behaviour when applying agrochemicals, including agricultural extension training techniques such as seminars, training courses, and safe agrochemicals use demonstrations. According to Amghani et al. ( 54 ), agricultural extension is a system designed to provide farmers, relevant organisation, and market players with access to knowledge, information, and technologies, facilitating their interaction with partners in agricultural research, education and trade (p.1). Thus, farmers would not have access to assistance and the services needed to enhance their farming and other productive endeavours with agricultural extension ( 55 ), making agricultural extension one of the most significant determinants of farmers’ behaviour at different levels ( 56 ). Agricultural extension methods are a variety of communication and education strategies that are adapted to the social, economic, and experiential differences of farmers ( 57 ). Building trust, influencing behaviour and successfully meeting the particular requirements of different farmers are the goals of these strategies ( 58 ). Many scholars have reported on the effectiveness of different extension methods which serves as the foundation to improving the behaviour of farmers in different contexts ( 59 – 62 ). Based on the objective of this study to examine the effectiveness of extension methods for providing intervention on safe agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers, sixth and seventh research hypotheses were proposed in order to extend the TPB model: H 06 : Effectiveness of extension methods is positively correlated to pineapple farmers’ intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use. H 07 : Effectiveness of extension methods is positively correlated to pineapple farmers’ safety behaviour towards pesticide use. Figure 1 presents the extended TPB conceptual model for the study with hypothetical relationship. Methodology Profile of Study area The study was conducted in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions, two of the four pineapple producing regions in Ghana. The Greater Accra region, Volta, Eastern, and Central regions are the primary locations for pineapple production in Ghana ( 2 ). The Central region makes up of 9,631 square kilometres while the Eastern Region also covers 16,705 square kilometres respectively ( 63 ). The two regions are boarded by the Greater Region, Volta Region, Western Region and the Ashanti Region ( 7 ). According to the 2021 population and housing census, the two regions have a composite population of 5,785,474 inhabitants ( 64 ). August has the lowest average monthly temperature of 24.7 o C, while March has the highest at 32.7 o C ( 65 ). The regions experience a by-modal rainfall pattern. The prime agricultural seasons in the regions are May – June, while the secondary seasons are September – October ( 66 ). Relative humidity is from 50 to 85%, and annual rainfall ranging from 750 to 1,000 mm, while in the forest areas it ranges from 1,200 to 1,500 mm, making the climate favourable for growing pineapples ( 7 ). In particular, smallholder pineapple farmers from the following districts were survey: Ekumfi and Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem in the Central region ( 67 , 68 ) and Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipality and the Upper West Akim District in the Eastern region ( 8 ). Respondents worked directly or indirectly in the pineapple industry in these areas where there are pineapple processing factories ( 6 ). Design, Sampling, Instrument and Data collection The paper adopted the cross-sectional survey design to sample pineapple farmers in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions. The approach was utilised to gather primary data and plan for future research on safe agrochemicals use behaviour among pineapple farmers in the study area ( 69 ). Cross-sectional survey design was used to enable pineapple farmers self-report their experiences and perspectives regarding safe agrochemicals use in pineapple production ( 70 ). The design incorporated a snapshot of pertinent data regarding safe use of agrochemicals including sources of information on safe agrochemicals use, and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) at one point in time ( 71 ). The objective was to ascertain the degree of exposure of pineapple farmers to unsafe agrochemicals use in the study area ( 72 ). The population of the study comprised all smallholder pineapple farmers in the two regions. Cochran's ( 73 ) formula for calculating sample size of a population was used to establish the study’s sample size. The formula is expressed as: The expected sample size was rounded to 400 smallholder pineapple farmers. Using data from different pineapple cooperatives in each of the study regions, a random sample of 200 pineapple farmers ( 25 ) from each community (16 communities and 4 districts) were chosen, despite the fact that smallholder pineapple farmers made up a significant number of the population in the study area. In order to prevent bias, the farmers were sampled to ensure that farms from different farmer cooperatives were adequately represented ( 6 ). A structured questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. The instrument was sectioned into two parts. Section one elicited information on the socio-demographic characteristics and farm-related variables including age, sex, level of education, years of farming experience, sources of information on safe agrochemicals use and PPEs. The second section was used to gather data on the extended TPB constructs [attitudes (six items), behavioural intention (seven items), intention (seven items), subjective norm (five items), and perceived behavioural control (six items) and effectiveness of extension training sources (six items). The TPB constructs were adopted from Fishbein and Ajzen ( 28 ) while the extension training method were adopted from FAO ( 55 ). Five point Likert type scale of 1 = very low agreement; 2 = low agreement; 3 = moderate agreement; 4 = high agreement and 5 = very high agreement. was adopted as the scale for measuring the extended TPB construct. Two experts in agricultural extension contributed to the structure of the instrument, guaranteeing its face and content validity. The experts provided their feedback on the instruments’ format, logical relationship and appropriateness and also verified the representativeness, completeness and relevance of the instrument for a study of safety behaviour on agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers ( 74 ). The instrument was pre-tested with 20 smallholder pineapple farmers in the Gomoa East district. McDonald’s Omega coefficient was computed to examine the internal consistency in the Likert-type items ( 75 ). The results indicate that McDonald’s Omega coefficient ranged between 0.77 for intention and 0.91 for perceived behavioural control. The instrument was then deemed as reliable and prepared for the actual data collection ( 76 ). Prior data collection, Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Education, Winneba in accordance with the principles of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki (Approval No. SGS-049/EC/ Vol.3/16). Participation was voluntary, and informed consent was secured from all respondents before completing survey. For main data collection, 400 copies of the instrument were printed. During data collection, four enumerators received training on how to record responses and posed questions. Every respondent was made aware of the study’s purpose, the fact that no personal information would be recorded, and that the entire survey would remain anonymous. Oral informed consent was acquired at the time of the initial data gathering. After two months (May to June 2023) of data collection, 301 filled questionnaires were returned representing 75.25% response rate ( 74 ). Data analysis International Business Machine’s Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) version 27 was utilised for data cleaning, coding and preparation for analysis. The study used descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation to analyse data of farmers’ socio-demographic characteristics, sources of information on safe agrochemicals use, and the use of PPEs. Means, standard deviations, correlations, coefficients of determination and related indices were computed to examine the extended TPB constructs with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) ( 77 ). Smart PLS version 4.0 was the software used for computing the PLS-SEM ( 78 ). Results Socio-demographic characteristics Table 1 presents the socio-demographic characteristics of pineapple farmers. The results indicate that eight in every ten (81.4%) pineapple farmers were males with an average age of 42.52 ± 15.02 years. More than three-fourth (76.1%) were between 21 and 50 years with one-fifth (20.9%) above 50 years old. Six in every ten farmers (60.8%) possess less than 10 years of pineapple farming experience. Close to three in every ten (28.6%) have been cultivating pineapples for 11 and 20 years. The rest representing (10.6%) have between 21 and 50 years of farming experience. The mean years of pineapple farming experience is 11.16 ± 8.20 years. More than four-fifth (82.4%) of the farmers were formally educated in proportions of primary education (10.3%), junior high school (18.3%), senior high school (14.0%) and tertiary education (39.9%). Close to two-thirds (64.8%) of the farmers were married with farming as their primary occupation (59.8%). Close to one-fourth (22.9%) combines farming with official employments while the rest combines farming with trading in general goods and services (17.3%). Majority (80.7%) of the farmers indicated that they finance their farming enterprise without access to credit. More than half (52.5%) of farmers noted that they do not have access to agricultural extension services through Extension Agents. On the other hand, farmers who had access to Extension Agents had an average of 10.45 ± 5.55 engagement in one growing season. The farmers were generally medium scale farmers cultivating an average of 4.37 ± 4.12 hectares of pineapple fields. Close to four in every five (79.4%) farmers cultivated 1 to 10 hectares of pineapple farms. Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristics of pineapple farmers Variables Frequency Percent Sex Male 245 81.4 Female 56 18.6 Age of farmers (Mean = 42.52 ± 15.02 years) ≤ 20 9 3.0 21–30 65 21.6 31–40 86 28.6 41–50 78 25.9 51–60 32 10.6 > 60 31 10.3 Farming experience (Mean = 11.16 ± 8.20 years) 1–10 183 60.8 11–20 86 28.6 21–30 23 7.6 31–40 7 2.3 41–50 2 0.7 Education No formal Education 53 17.6 Primary 31 10.3 JSS/JHS 55 18.3 SSS/SHS 42 14.0 Tertiary 120 39.9 Marital status Married 195 64.8 Single 58 19.3 Widowed 27 9.0 Divorced 21 7.0 Primary occupation Farming Only 180 59.8 Farming and Trading 52 17.3 Farming and Official Work 69 22.9 Access to Credit Yes 58 19.3 No 243 80.7 Access to Extension Agents Yes 143 47.5 No 158 52.5 Number of contact times in a season (mean = 10.45 ± 5.22 times) 1–10 80 26.6 11–20 61 20.3 21≥ 2 0.7 Farm Size (Mean = 4.37 ± 4.12 Ha) ≤ 1 31 10.3 1–5 180 59.8 6–10 59 19.6 11–15 22 7.3 16–20 9 3.0 Source: Field data (2023) n = 301 Sources to information on safe agrochemicals use Farmers’ sources of information on safe use of agrochemicals is presented in Table 2 . The main source of information on safe use of agrochemicals available to farmers was from processing companies (59.1%), followed by agricultural extension agents (47.5%). More than one-fourth of the famers also indicated that they access information on agrochemicals from friends (28.9%) and agricultural input dealers (26.6%.) Table 2 Sources to information on safe use of agrochemicals Information Source Frequency* Percent Processing companies 178 59.1 Agricultural Extension Agents 143 47.5 Friends 87 28.9 Input dealers 80 26.6 On the internet 22 7.3 Export companies 14 4.7 *Multiple responses, n = 301 Personal protective equipment (PPEs) used for agrochemicals application Table 3 shows the PPEs worn by farmers during agrochemicals applications on their pineapple farms. Almost all farmers indicated that they wore a pair of trousers (98.7%), long-sleeve shirts (98.7%), a pair of hand gloves (94.0%), and Wallington boots (89.7%). More than two-thirds (68.4%) of the farmers indicated that they wore overall clothing to protect their whole bodies during spraying of agrochemicals. Furthermore, more than half (57.5%) of the farmers used nose masks or respirators. Other PPEs used by farmers include googles (42.5%) and head hats (40.9%). Table 3 Personal protective equipment used for agrochemicals application PPEs Frequency* Percent Pair of Trousers 297 98.7 Long-sleeved Shirt 297 98.7 Hand Gloves 283 94.0 Wellington Boots 270 89.7 Overall Clothing 206 68.4 Nose Mask/Respirator 173 57.5 Goggles 128 42.5 Head Hat 123 40.9 *Multiple responses, n = 301 Extension methods used for receiving training on safe use of agrochemicals Farmer Based Organization meetings (51.5%) and training courses or workshops (50.2%) are two main agricultural extension methods used for instructing farmers on safe use of agrochemicals. More than two-fifth of the farmers received their training during farmer field schools (45.8%), demonstrations (45.8%), field days (42.5%) and village extension meetings (42.5%). Table 4 Extension methods used for receiving training on safe use of agrochemicals Extension methods Frequency* Percent FBO meetings 155 51.5 Training course/Workshops 151 50.2 Farmer field schools 138 45.8 Demonstrations 138 45.8 Field days 128 42.5 Village extension meeting 128 42.5 Seminars 89 29.6 *Multiple responses, n = 301 Drivers of safety behaviour in agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers Table 5 presents the TPB drivers of safety behaviour in agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in Ghana. Safety behaviour recorded the highest overall score while effectiveness of extension training sources recorded the lowest score. The pineapple farmers rated their safety behaviour in agrochemicals use as very high with overall mean of 4.45 ± 0.57. Even though farmers were in very high agreement on keeping records of agrochemicals sprayed, the use of PPEs during spraying and disposing-off of agrochemicals leftovers at appropriate locations, they highly agreed that they dispose-off water used for rinsing sprayers, washing sprayers and agrochemicals containers at appropriate locations. Attitude of farmers towards safe agrochemicals use scored the second highest overall mean of 4.22 ± 0.72. Farmers highly agreed that safe disposal of agrochemicals leftovers is beneficial in pineapple production, the keeping of records of agrochemicals spraying is valuable and safe agrochemicals application in pineapple production is good. Intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use recorded the third highest overall mean score of 4.09 ± 0.71. Farmers intend to buy only the needed agrochemicals at a time, adopt digital spraying devices for spraying agrochemicals, properly dispose-off leftover solutions and adopt safety agrochemicals use to enhance work output in pineapple production. Intention was followed by subjective norms with an overall mean score of 3.83 ± 1.01. Farmers highly agreed that family members, farmer colleagues, friends, buyers and extension agents expect them to practice safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in pineapple production. Perceived behavioural control came after subjective norms with an overall mean score of 3.67 ± 0.95. The results indicate that farmers highly agreed that they could adopt safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in a few months. They also highly agreed that their practices of safety behaviour in agrochemicals in pineapple production is completely up to them. Also, farmers indicated that they have complete control over safety behaviour on agrochemicals and possess sufficient self-confidence to make decisions to adopt safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in pineapple production. Effectiveness of extension training sources scored the least overall mean of 2.41 ± 1.20. The farmers had low agreement with respect to the effectiveness of agricultural extension training sources on safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in pineapple production. Although farmers had low agreement on the effectiveness of village extension meeting, demonstrations and seminars are effective for training farmers on safety behaviour in agrochemicals use, and they had moderate agreement that FBO meetings, training courses or workshops and field days are effective platforms for training farmers to improve safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in pineapple production in Ghana. Table 5 Drivers of safety behaviour in agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers Constructs Mean S.D Behaviour towards safe agrochemicals use (BEH) I keep record of agrochemicals I spray on my farm 4.60 0.68 I use personal protective equipment (PPEs) during sprayings 4.57 0.68 I dispose-off agrochemicals leftovers at appropriate location 4.49 0.74 I read information on agrochemicals labels before spraying 4.46 0.69 I dispose-off water used for rinsing sprayers at appropriate locations 4.41 0.81 I wash agrochemicals sprayers at appropriate locations 4.40 0.83 I dispose-off used agrochemicals containers at appropriate locations 4.26 1.02 Overall mean 4.45 0.57 Attitudes towards safe agrochemicals use (ATT) Safe disposal of agrochemicals leftovers is beneficial in pineapple production 4.28 0.89 Keeping records of agrochemicals sprayings is valuable in pineapple production` 4.25 0.94 Safe agrochemicals application in pineapple production is good 4.23 0.94 Safe disposal of agrochemicals containers makes pineapple farming productive 4.20 0.99 Safe agrochemicals application are important for improving quality of fruits 4.20 0.95 Wearing PPEs when spraying agrochemicals is useful in pineapple production 4.16 0.86 Overall mean 4.22 0.72 Intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use (INT) I plan to buy only the needed agrochemicals for spraying at a time in the near future 4.31 0.88 I intend to adopt digital spraying technologies for pineapple farming activities 4.20 0.98 I plan to properly dispose-off agrochemicals leftover solutions in the near future 4.18 0.91 I plan to adopt safety agrochemicals use to enhance my work output 4.17 0.94 I intend to store unused agrochemicals in a separate warehouse 4.14 1.14 I intend to use agrochemicals appropriately on my pineapple farm in the near future 4.12 1.00 I intend to give unused agrochemicals solution to the neighbouring farmers 3.49 1.55 Overall mean 4.09 0.71 Subjective norm (SN) My family members think I should practice safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple farming 4.20 0.94 My colleague farmers think that it is good to adopt safety behaviour on agrochemicals 3.86 2.00 My friends want me to exhibit safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production 3.83 1.23 My buyers I respect would like me to practice safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production 3.75 1.24 Extension Agents like me to practice safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in pineapple production 3.52 1.49 Overall mean 3.83 1.01 Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) If I really wanted to I could adopt safety behaviour on pesticide in the next few months 4.11 .84 My practices of safety behaviour in agrochemicals in pineapple production is completely up to me 3.73 1.04 I have complete control over safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production 3.62 1.14 I have sufficient self-confidence to make the decision to adopt safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production 3.56 1.40 I have sufficient control to make the decision to adopt safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production 3.54 1.33 I have sufficient knowledge to practice safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production 3.44 1.21 Overall mean 3.67 0.95 Effectiveness of training sources (EFF) FBO meetings 2.69 1.63 Training course/Workshops 2.53 1.58 Field days 2.49 1.61 Village extension meeting 2.48 1.61 Demonstrations 2.36 1.55 Seminars 2.06 1.46 Overall mean 2.41 1.20 Means were calculated on a 5-point scale of 1 = very low agreement; 2 = low agreement; 3 = moderate agreement; 4 = high agreement and 5 = very high agreement. Assessment of extended TPB measurement model Table 6 presents results of the study on criteria for assessing the measurement model of the extended TPB model. Indices including factor loadings, Cronbach’s Alpha, Joreskog’s rho A (computed with the unstandardized loading), rho C (computed with the standardised loadings) were used to assess the reliability of the model while average variance extracted (AVE) criteria were used to assess convergent validity of the extended TPB measurement model. When the factor loadings of the extended TPB model were assessed, the results revealed that all constructs had factor loadings greater than 0.70 except BEH1, BEH2, INT1, INT4, INT7, PBC1, SN1, EFF1, and EFF5 which had factor loadings less than 0.07, hence were deleted from the model. The rest of the indicators of the extended TPB constructs that met the threshold were deemed to have achieved reliability ( 79 , 80 ). Cronbach’s alpha and Joreskog’s rho A and rho C indices also showed values greater 0.70, establishing that internal consistency ( 81 ) and indicator reliability ( 82 ). Convergent validity of the model was assessed with average variance extracted (AVE) indices. The results revealed that AVE indices were greater than the recommended threshold of 0.50 ( 83 ). The extended TPB model was deemed to have achieved convergent validity ( 84 ). Table 6 Factor loadings, reliability and convergent validity criteria Constructs Loadings Cronbach’s Alpha ρA ρC AVE Attitudes (ATT) ATT1 0.77 0.87 0.88 0.90 0.61 ATT2 0.81 ATT3 0.76 ATT4 0.79 ATT5 0.76 ATT6 0.78 Behaviour (BEH) BEH3 0.70 0.85 0.86 0.89 0.62 BEH4 0.75 BEH5 0.85 BEH6 0.84 BEH7 0.81 Intention (INT) INT2 0.73 0.77 0.77 0.85 0.59 INT3 0.77 INT5 0.80 INT6 0.78 Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) PBC2 0.73 0.91 0.92 0.93 0.74 PBC3 0.88 PBC4 0.88 PBC5 0.89 PBC6 0.90 Subjective Norms (SN) SN2 0.93 0.91 0.95 0.94 0.78 SN3 0.92 SN4 0.90 SN5 0.79 Effectiveness of Training Methods (EFF) EFF2 0.90 0.90 0.97 0.92 0.71 EFF3 0.91 EFF4 0.78 EFF6 0.71 EFF7 0.89 ATT: Attitudes; BEH: Behaviour; EFF: Effectiveness of Training Methods; INT: Intention; PBC: Perceived Behavioural Control; SN: Subjective Norms; AVE: Average Variance Extracted; Henseler et al.'s ( 85 ) heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) criteria for assessing discriminant validity of models was utilised to examine the discriminant validity of the extended TPB model (Table 7 ). The HTMT ratio is the ratio of the mean score of the construct indicator correlation across constructs comparative to the (geometric) mean of the average correlation for the indicators measuring the same construct ( 84 ). With HTMT ratio scores of the TPB model less than the suggested threshold of 0.85 for all constructs in the model, the TPB model was deemed to have achieved discriminant validity ( 79 ). Table 7 Discriminant validity of the extended TPB model based the HTMT criteria Constructs ATT BEH EFF INT PBC SN ATT BEH 0.57 EFF 0.34 0.25 INT 0.58 0.53 0.28 PBC 0.32 0.30 0.71 0.30 SN 0.37 0.30 0.70 0.28 0.70 ATT: Attitudes; BEH: Behaviour; EFF: Effectiveness of Training Methods; INT: Intention; PBC: Perceived Behavioural Control; SN: Subjective Norms Assessment of the structural model The structural model of the TPB model was assessed using variance inflation factor (VIF), coefficient of determination R 2 , and the f 2 effect size indices (Table 8 ). VIF was used to examine the probability of multi-collinearity inflating the outcome of the model ( 84 ). The rule of thumb for determining whether the outcome of the study was not influenced by multi-collinearity, the VIF score should be less than three or approximately three ( 77 ). The VIF values of the extended TPB model were less than the threshold of three (Table 8 ). The results indicate that the extended TPB model was not influenced by multi-collinearity ( 84 ). When the coefficients of determination ( R 2 ) of the endogenous constructs, that is BEH and INT of the model were assessed to explain the variation accounted for by their respective exogenous construct to determine the in-sample explanatory power of the extended TPB model ( 86 ), the recommended clarification of R 2 values of 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 interpreted as weak, moderate and substantial respectively were used ( 87 ). The behaviour of pineapple farmers towards safe use of agrochemicals is weak (BEH: R 2 = 0.21). The findings imply that the intention of pineapple farmers to apply agrochemicals under safety conditions, perceived behavioural control and effectiveness of extension methods used for training farmers on safe agrochemicals usage accounted for 21% of the variance in behaviour towards safe agrochemicals use. On the other hand, the R 2 value of intention was slightly moderate (INT: R 2 = 0.26), indicating that attitude towards safe agrochemicals use, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and effectiveness of extension training methods collectively predicted 26% of the variance in intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use which is slightly moderate. Cohen's ( 88 ) criteria for evaluating effect size was used to examine the effect of each of the exogenous constructs on their respective endogenous constructs. According to Cohen’s criteria, f 2 values greater than 0.02, 0.15 and 0.35 were classified as small, medium and large effect respectively. Intention had medium effect ( f 2 : INT = 0.18) on behaviour, while perceived behavioural control ( f 2 : PBC = 0.01) and effectiveness of extension training methods ( f 2 : EFF = 0.00) had no effect on behaviour (Table 8 ). Furthermore, attitude ( f 2 : ATT = 0.23) had medium effect on intention, whereas perceived behavioural control (PBC: f 2 = 0.00), subjective norms (SN: f 2 = 0.00) and effectiveness of extension training methods (EFF: f 2 = 0.00) had no effect on intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use. Table 8 Extended TPB structural Model indices Relationships 95% BCa CI Beta coefficients T statistics P-values LL UL VIF R 2 f 2 Decision INT -> BEH 0.39* 6.67 0.00 0.27 0.49 1.09 0.21 0.18 Medium PBC -> BEH 0.14 1.84 0.07 -0.01 0.29 1.80 0.01 No effect EFF -> BEH 0.03 0.47 0.64 -0.10 0.17 1.80 0.00 No effect ATT -> INT 0.45* 8.44 0.00 0.33 0.54 1.16 0.26 0.23 Medium EFF -> INT 0.03 0.44 0.66 -0.10 0.17 2.10 0.00 No effect PBC -> INT 0.10 1.29 0.19 -0.06 0.24 2.03 0.00 No effect SN -> INT 0.02 0.32 0.75 -0.13 0.16 1.96 0.00 No effect ATT: Attitudes; BEH: Behaviour; EFF: Effectiveness of Training Methods; INT: Intention; PBC: Perceived Behavioural Control; SN: Subjective Norms; LL: Lower limit; UL: Upper limit; f 2 : Effect size; R 2 : Coefficient of determination; VIF: Variance Inflation Factor. Direct relationships and beta coefficients The statistical significance of the extended TPB model of the study with 301 respondents was assessed using the bootstrapping technique ( 84 ). Beta coefficient and t-statistics were calculated using the bootstrap process in PLS-SEM with 5000 samples at a 95% confidence interval ( 78 ). The results indicate that only two of the relationships in the extended TPB model were significant (Table 8 ). For instance, we observed a direct positive significant relationship between intention and behaviour (INT -> BEH: β = 0.39, p = 0.00) of pineapple farmers toward safe use of agrochemicals. The positive direct relationship indicates that pineapple farmers have very strong intention towards adopting safe agrochemicals use which ultimately affects their behaviour. This result suggests that a unit increase in farmers’ mean intention (4.09 ± 0.71), would result in 39% increase on safety behaviour among pineapple farmers in the study area, hence hypothesis 1 was accepted. On the other hand, perceived behavioural control (PBC -> BEH: β = 0.14, p = 0.07) and effectiveness of extension training methods (EFF -> BEH: β = 0.03, p = 0.47) had no significant effect on behaviour of pineapple farmers towards adoption of safe agrochemicals use. The results of the no significant effect of perceived behavioural control and effectiveness of extension training methods indicate that the extended TPB model implemented in the study area did not support hypotheses 2 and 3. Furthermore, out of the four exogenous constructs linked with intention, only attitude showed positive direct relationship with intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use. The direct positive relationship between attitude and intention (ATT -> INT: β = 0.45, p = 0.00) indicate that the extended TPB model support hypothesis 4. This implies that a one-point increase in mean attitude (4.22 ± 0.72) would produce a 45% increase in intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use in the study area. On the contrary, the relation between intention and perceived behavioural control (PBC -> INT: β = 0.10, p = 0.19), subjective norm (SN -> INT: β = 0.02, p = 0.75) and effectiveness of extension training methods (EFF -> INT: β = 0.03, p = 0.66) were not significant. The results suggest that pineapple farmers’ perception of control over safe agrochemicals use, the view of family, peers, friends and extension agents, and effectiveness of extension training methods did not affect the intention of farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use. Hence, the study did not support hypotheses 5, 6 and 7. Figure 2 presents the extended TPB model of pineapple farmers’ behaviour towards safe agrochemicals use. Discussion The extended version of the TPB model was used as the theoretical framework to examine the behaviour of pineapple farmers towards safe use of agrochemicals in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions. Previous studies have reported that agrochemicals are employed by pineapple growers either in the field or to treat fruits after harvest ( 89 ). These agrochemicals were chosen without taking into account the partially authorized ones ( 18 ) warranting a study on compliance and safety behaviour on agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in the Central and Eastern regions of Ghana ( 8 ). Several scholars have examined the intention and behaviour of farmers towards adopting ecologically friendly pest management practices with the TPB model, proving its ability to accurately predict safety behaviour among farmers in agrochemicals use ( 12 , 46 , 51 , 52 ). This present study adopted the extended TPB model to provide evidence on the recommendations of Tsakiris et al. ( 53 ) that more studies are needed to evaluate effectiveness of appropriate interventions through varied extension training methods including training programmes and demonstration projects, that could enhance farmers’ safety behaviour when applying agrochemicals. Some studies have looked at the effect of agrochemicals in pineapple production ( 19 , 90 , 91 ), however, studies on safety behaviour of agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers adopting the TPB is inadequate in the Ghanaian context. Furthermore, much attention had not been paid to the effectiveness of extension training methods as interventions on safe agrochemicals use on intention and safety behaviour of agrochemicals among pineapple farmers in Ghana. This study provides empirical data on safety behaviour on agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions and the important information about pineapple farmers’ safety behaviour that may be applied to improve the efficiency of extension services in the two pineapple growing regions. The results indicate that intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use accounted for 21% of the variation in safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions. The positive significant effect of the relationship suggests that farmers’ safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use in pineapple production improves when they are highly prepared to engage in that behaviour ( 46 , 51 ). Intention is triggered spontaneously, as performance prospects are repeated, removing the necessity of deliberate behaviour before acting ( 39 , 53 ). The positive effect of intention on behaviour mirrors the finding of previous studies ( 11 , 41 , 46 , 92 ). Asante et al. ( 11 ) reported a positive effect of intention on agrochemicals use behaviour among farmers in the Upper East of Ghana. Again, Asante et al. ( 41 ) found a strong relationship between extension agents’ intention and behaviour towards adopting digital technologies for agricultural extension. Yang et al. ( 92 ) also found that farmers’ intention have a major influence on how often they use agrochemicals, suggesting that intention has a favourable influence on behaviour related to safe agrochemicals use. On the contrary, a study on farmers’ behaviour regarding safe use of agrochemicals found that behaviour was significantly predicted by perceived behavioural control and not intention ( 12 ). However, consistent with the results of this study is that of Wastutiningsih and Aulia ( 29 ) which reported that household food waste behaviour was not significantly impacted by perceived behavioural control. However, it should be highlighted that a person’s moral obligations, beliefs, and awareness of the repercussions, as well as the necessity of keeping an eye on their actions to prevent unfavourable outcomes, all have an impact on their behaviour ( 46 ). This implies that even when people adhere to societal standards, they are the only one who seek out behaviours that satisfy their inner selves, fit with their values and gives them a sense of independence and self-sufficiency ( 93 ). Hence, a person feels more liberated and fulfilled on the inside when they act in a way that is motivated by their personal beliefs ( 30 ). Given the non-significant effect of perceived behavioural control on safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers, our results suggest that farmers were not adequately prepared to embrace safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use ( 28 ). This finding is consistent with pineapple farmers’ low rating of the effectiveness of extension intervention geared towards improved safety behaviour in agrochemicals application which is also not significant. The research of Tsakiris et al. ( 53 ) led to the inclusion of effectiveness of extension training method on safe application of agrochemicals to predict farmers’ intention and safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use. Our results indicated that effectiveness of extension training method on safe use of agrochemicals did not affect the intention and safety behaviour of among pineapple farmers in the Central and Eastern regions of Ghana. The results is similar to the findings of Asante et al. (2023) which reported no significant effect of past behaviour in intention of smallholder maize farmers to adopt integrated pest management practices for fall armyworm control in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Some studies have included other variables in the TPB model and reported positive effects ( 35 , 36 ), however, our studies showed contrary results to the inclusion of effectiveness of extension training methods on intention and behaviour. We presume that the no impact of effectiveness of extension training methods of instruction for safe agrochemicals application on intention and safety behaviour among pineapple farmers is intimately tied to the perception of farmers that these extension methods were low in effectively addressing safety behaviour in agrochemicals application. Ahmed and Adisa ( 60 ) studied the effectiveness of agricultural extension methods used to disseminate improved technologies in Kogi State, Nigeria and reported that field demonstration activities and individual contact method were observed as the most effective extension training methods. Somanje et al. ( 61 ) found that Ghanaian farmers view agricultural extension training as less effective than Zambian farmers, who view it as highly effective (72%). While AL-Sharafat et al. ( 94 ) observed no discernible difference in the effectiveness of agricultural extension between farmers who were beneficiaries of extension services and those who were not in Jordan, Agbarevo and Benjamin ( 95 ) found an even lower perception of 39.65% in Cross River State, Nigeria. Davidson and Ahmad ( 96 ) concluded that both government and private extension providers were ineffective at meeting the expectations of cotton growers in Pakistan’s Punjab Province. According to Kumaran et al. ( 97 ) farmers in two Indian states felt that commercial agricultural extension was more successful than public extension services, which needed to be improved. The results of this study when juxtaposed with previous studies show that majority of the pineapple farmers may greatly benefit from partnerships in terms of improved agricultural extension services from both public and private extension service providers. The results also indicate that out of the other three variables linked with intention, only attitude exhibited significant effect on intention while subjective norm and perceived behavioural control had no effect. Attitude predicted 26% of the variation in intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use in pineapple production. The findings suggest that when pineapple farmers possess positive attitude towards safe agrochemicals use, it would result in greater intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use in the study area. Sarma ( 98 ) discovered that farmers’ intention to apply agrochemicals properly were influenced by attitude, underscoring the significance of cultivating a favourable attitude towards safe agrochemicals use in order to reduce risks and improve overall agricultural productivity. The results are consistent with those of Asante et al. ( 11 ) which found that farmers intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use in the Upper East of Ghana was significantly predicted by their positive attitude. The results were also in line with findings of Imran et al. ( 99 ) who found that the association between good attitude and intention to adopt protective agrochemicals use behaviour, suggesting that farmers who have a positive attitude are more likely to use agrochemicals safely. Our results suggest that rather than following social pressures and their ability to control their safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use, pineapple farmers in the Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions are more motivated by their own personal belief (attitude) towards safe agrochemicals use in pineapple production. The non-significant effect of both subjective norm and perceived behavioural control on intention indicates that opinions of influential people including colleague farmers, family, friends and extension agents, and farmers’ perception in their ability to carry out safety behaviour practices in agrochemicals use did not impact on their intention to exhibit the behaviour. Numerous factors have been attributed to the lack of significant impact of PBC and subjective norm on intention ( 100 – 102 ). The impact of perceived behavioural control varies based on the context within which the behaviour is exhibited but subjective norm frequently exhibits a limited influence on intention ( 102 ). According to Dodaj et al. ( 103 ), peer pressure may not be the main determinant of testing intention among college students, and subjective norm did not significantly predict testing intention. Another study found that subjective norm had no discernible impact on purchasing intention in the study on buying environmentally friendly plastic, indicating that social pressure or expectations could not be the primary drivers of consumer behaviour ( 100 ). Compared to other TPB components, a meta-analysis revealed that subjective norm frequently had less association with intention ( 101 ). This could be because perceived behavioural control has a moderating impact that can lessen the effect of subjective norm ( 102 ). Similar to the findings of this study is that of Asante et al. ( 41 ) which also reported no effect of perceived behavioural control on intention of agricultural extension agents to adopt digital technologies for extension delivery. This implies that pineapple farmers did not change their intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use despite knowing that they did not have control over their behaviour ( 12 ). Although its impact can vary depending on the circumstances, it has been shown that perceived behavioural control favourably influences intention to buy environmentally friendly products ( 100 ). Even though perceived behavioural control and subjective norms are essential components of TPB, their influence on intention might vary ( 101 ). This variation could result from the context, the particular behaviour under study or the way they interact with other TPB constructs ( 104 ). To investigate these patterns across many groups and behaviour, more research is required. Again, more than half of the pineapple farmers indicated that they frequently receive extension trainings on safe agrochemicals use during farmer-based organization meetings and training workshops, while some also receive training on agrochemicals use during farmer field schools and demonstrations. The findings is consistent with popular extension methods where farmers usually receive training or instructions on safe agrochemicals use ( 55 , 105 ). The extensive use of PPEs by farmers in this study is also consistent with previous studies which reported high use of PPEs among farmers in Ghana ( 11 , 106 , 107 ). Moreover, we observed from the results that more than half of the pineapple farmers obtain information on safe agrochemicals use from processing companies followed by the agricultural extension agents from the state owned Departments of Agriculture in the study area. This pattern emphasizes how important these organizations are in dissemination information about pesticide safety. Pineapple farmers’ dependence on agricultural extension agents and processing firms underscore how crucial organized and reliable information sources are to encouraging farmers to use agrochemicals safely ( 8 ). This pattern is in line with research findings from other studies that highlight the value of diverse information sources in improving farmers’ agrochemicals use behaviour and reduced health risks ( 53 , 108 – 110 ). More than half of the farmers relied on processing companies as their main information source, demonstrating their impact in the pineapple supply chain. Tsakiris et al. ( 53 ) noted that in order to guarantee the quality and safety of processed food, these processing firms frequently offer guidelines and training on safe agrochemicals use, which is in line with keeping their commercial objectives. Farmers who dealt with these processing firms often report more knowledge of possible risks and hazards connected to the poor use of agrochemicals ( 111 ). The information provided by agro-processing industries are closely related to the farmers’ opinion on agrochemicals danger of food safety concerns. For example, farmers who have access to reliable information sources are more likely to be knowledgeable of agrochemicals toxicity and its effects on human health ( 112 ). On the other hand, inaccurate information on safety use of agrochemicals may cause farmers to become complacent and implement insufficient safety measures compromising the entire food chain ( 113 ). The advantage pineapple farmers in the study perceive of the safe agrochemicals use promoted by agro-processors, is the impact of adherence to safety regulations. This include the possibility of lower input cost and higher yield ( 111 ). Hyde-cooper et al. ( 107 ) posited that these processing companies’ extension services can further promote adherence to safety procedures, which enhances farmers’ general agrochemicals techniques. The impact of the extension services provided by these processing firms may be responsible for the low rating of effectiveness of extension services provided by state agricultural extension agents as revealed by this study. However, some studies have highlighted the impact of extension services provided by government extension agents on technology adoption ( 99 , 114 – 116 ). Extension agents fill in farmers’ knowledge gaps by offering important agrochemicals safety training ( 55 ). For example, in Bihar, India, a notable deficiency in knowledge regarding prohibited agrochemicals and appropriate disposal techniques were found, underscoring the necessity of consistent extension agent engagement to enhance farmers’ comprehension of safe agrochemicals usage ( 114 ). It was discovered in Pakistan that farmers’ agrochemicals safety behaviour was positively impacted by more awareness about agrochemicals safety, through extremely important role of extension agents in disseminating this knowledge ( 99 ). Also, extension agents had a key role in improving Asahan Regency farmers’ capacity to handle pests, which in turn encouraged safer agrochemicals use by encouraging integrated pest management techniques ( 115 ). Therefore, to influence behaviour, extension agents play a critical role in fostering favourable attitudes regarding the safe use of agrochemicals, suggesting that extension agents can affect both knowledge and attitudes to encourage safer agrochemicals practices ( 99 ), an assertion which was not confirmed by this study. That notwithstanding, the socio-economic and educational obstacles that prevent the adoption of safe practices are addressed by extension agents ( 117 ). They also adjust their strategies to fit the various demands of farmers taking into account elements like experience and educational attainment, which are linked to improved agrochemicals safety procedures ( 118 ). The results of the study highlight the importance of harnessing multiple information sources by farmers in the study area. Some studies have revealed that, farmers who use a variety of information sources generally behave more safely. For example, in China, motivation to engage in safe agrochemicals use practices also involves exposing farmers to information about government policies and market information ( 111 ). Farmers in Greece showed better adherence to safety procedures when they used variety of information sources such as agricultural supply stores ( 53 ). While having access to a variety of reliable information sources is essential for encouraging the safe use of agrochemicals, the efficiency of these resources depends on farmers’ capacity to put their knowledge into practices ( 112 ). Agrochemicals use safety behaviour provided by processing firms and extensions agents in the study area could be extended to community based programmes which could improve the efficiency of these sources ( 108 ). These could help farmers adopt safer agrochemicals practices and provide wider access to information ( 114 ). The results of this study confirmed that the extended TPB model is a valuable instrument for determining the psychological factors influencing safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions. The most significant predictor of farmers’ intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use was found to be their attitude while intention was the best predictor of safety behaviour. Farmers’ intention was not significantly influenced by their ability to engage in safety behaviour (perceived behavioural control), social pressure from friends, family, peers and extension agents as well as the effectiveness of extension training methods. Likewise, the non-significant impact of perceived behavioural control and effectiveness of extension training methods of safe agrochemicals use on safety behaviour among the pineapple farmers. As an extra construct to the TPB model, the non-significant influence of effectiveness of extension training methods on intention and behaviour needs to be conceptualized in relation to the effectiveness of the training on safe agrochemicals use promoted by the processing companies in the study area since more than half of the respondents, access training on safe agrochemicals use from these processing firms. In terms of limitations, it is important to consider the weakness of this study in order to better comprehend the key findings. Self-reporting responses were used in the study, which may have challenges with consistency, social biases and correlation with real behaviour. Again, since majority of the pineapple farmers obtained information on safe agrochemicals use from the agro-processing firms in the study area, further studies should focus on extension services quality provided by agro-processing companies in the pineapple value chain. Future studies could also look at the effect of the extension services quality on intention and safety behaviour towards safe agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in the value chain. This study looked at how Ghanaian pineapple farmers ’agrochemicals safety practices are affected by agricultural extension services as the nation moves towards inclusive agroecological production systems. Extension services contribute to safer working conditions, less environmental contamination, and more sustainable agricultural production by enhancing farmers’ agrochemical handling knowledge and practices. The results show how extension services from processors can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of health, responsible production and environmental preservation. Conclusion and implication for extension delivery The study provides significant evidence for policy makers and agricultural extension providers working the pineapple value chain in the Central and Eastern regions as well as the other pineapple growing regions in Ghana. The study offers insight into pineapple farmers’ behaviour regarding safe agrochemicals use and the drivers of safer agrochemicals use adoption. Given that attitude had a positive significant impact on intention, as well as positive influence of intention on safety behaviour, agricultural extension agents from the Departments of Agriculture and the Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture should initiate policies for the retraining of pineapple farmers in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions. The training should incorporate extension techniques including group (FBO) meetings, workshops, farmer field schools, and results and method demonstrations to cultivate positive attitudes and ultimately intention and safety behaviour among the farmers regarding safe agrochemicals use. It is recommended that there should be a strong collaboration with agro-processing firms as key players in the value chain when planning such training programmes since most of the pineapple farmers access training from these firms. The findings of the study also point to the need for comprehensive pluralistic extension approach and strategy on agricultural information dissemination regarding the safe use agrochemicals among pineapple farmers. Declarations Acknowledgements: The farmers who provided data for the study and the enumerators who assisted with the data gathering process are both acknowledged by the authors. Author contributions: Conceptualisation: IKA, JKO, ETKA; and MOQ; Methodology: IKA, JKO, ETKA; and MOQ; Investigation: IKA, JKO, ETKA; MOQ; EOT, and DM; formal analysis: writing-original draft presentation: IKA, JKO, and ETKA; writing-review and editing: IKA, JKO, ETKA; and MOQ. All authors read and approved the final draft of manuscript. Funding: No funding was received for conducting this study. Clinical trial number: Not Applicable Conflict of interest: The authors declare no potential conflict of interest. Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are openly available on the Mendeley Data and Digital Commons Data at http://doi.org/10.17632/c8t4hx3jf6.1 reference number [1]. Ethical Approval and consent to participate: The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines established in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and it subsequent amendments or similar guidelines and was authorised by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Education, Winneba (Approval No. SGS-049/EC/ Vol.3/16). Every participant farmer in the study gave their informed consent. Consent to publish: The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for the publication of the data used in this study. Consent to participate : Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8949943","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":610137738,"identity":"490117bc-80c6-42ce-80c2-7f5657653b06","order_by":0,"name":"Isaac Kwasi Asante","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA4ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACNh4ogx9CMQMxDy7FKFoMGCQbiNXCANNicIBYLXw8hx9/+Lnjj5zxjeRjEgwV1okN/GsP4HcYb5uZZO8ZA2OzG2lpEgxn0hMbJN4l4NfCz2DGwNtmkLjtRo7ZDca2w0AtZwwIaGH//PFvm0H95hn5324w/iNGC2+PgTTQlgQDiRy2G4wNQC38PQS08Jwpk5ZtMzacceaZ+Y+EY+nGbRI8+LXI96Rv/vi2TU6evz35scGHGmvZfn4CDkMFCSB7JRJI0AEB/AdI1jIKRsEoGAXDGwAAjxBC+foAUxkAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"University of Education","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Isaac","middleName":"Kwasi","lastName":"Asante","suffix":""},{"id":610137749,"identity":"472dd301-bad9-4cc8-8336-b09f11aa52f2","order_by":1,"name":"John Kwesi Ocran","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Head Office Accra","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"John","middleName":"Kwesi","lastName":"Ocran","suffix":""},{"id":610137756,"identity":"f608b12d-0233-4738-b2de-e39f2911cdd4","order_by":2,"name":"Enoch Teye Kwao Ametepey","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Arkansas","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Enoch","middleName":"Teye Kwao","lastName":"Ametepey","suffix":""},{"id":610137761,"identity":"8ebccbc0-b735-47ca-a41c-64630162c091","order_by":3,"name":"Michael Odenkey Quaye","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Education","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Michael","middleName":"Odenkey","lastName":"Quaye","suffix":""},{"id":610137765,"identity":"2a3a24ed-e41e-47d8-85aa-1133f4132dbd","order_by":4,"name":"Eric Odum Tetteh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cape Coast","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Eric","middleName":"Odum","lastName":"Tetteh","suffix":""},{"id":610137770,"identity":"9cce3c9d-7133-43f7-bc33-b23b46504d01","order_by":5,"name":"Dickson Mensah","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Education","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dickson","middleName":"","lastName":"Mensah","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-23 18:38:38","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8949943/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8949943/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105564757,"identity":"518e687f-2c9a-4781-9929-c96761d59c06","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 12:50:46","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":56453,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eExtended TPB model of agrochemical use safety behaviour among pineapple farmers\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8949943/v1/c9c474ed94e458974f552d84.png"},{"id":105299215,"identity":"1b9f94e8-ff6f-430f-bc38-dc03551af30d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-24 13:36:09","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":194574,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eExtended TPB Model of Pineapple farmers' behaviour towards safe agrochemicals use\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8949943/v1/add7f11730e188710995766c.png"},{"id":108005866,"identity":"faecccdb-4960-46dc-ab43-fe0176b8df45","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-28 12:49:43","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1092571,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8949943/v1/6771e697-19ed-43d4-bbd6-88deeaec3ff2.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"The role of agricultural extension services in shaping agrochemicals safety behaviour among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s inclusive agroecology transition","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003ePineapple (\u003cem\u003eAnanas comosus\u003c/em\u003e (L.) Merri.), is a popular and nutrient-dense fruit that is cultivated across many tropical and subtropical nations worldwide and is a significantly traded crop (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). It is an excellent source of minerals and Vitamins (C, A and E) in human diets (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). The crop is produced in many developing nations, where smallholder farmers dominate the rural population and cultivate less than two hectares of farm land (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e). Around the world, pineapple is mostly consumed in the form of canned pineapple slices, chucks and dice, fruit salad, citric acid, pineapple juice, sugar syrup, pineapple chips, alcohol and puree (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). Due to its appealing aroma constituents, nutritional value, high demand and affordable retail prices, the market has been expanding significantly (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). For instance, in 20221, Ghana exported \u003cspan\u003e$\u003c/span\u003e29\u0026nbsp;million and ranked second behind Cote d\u0026rsquo;Ivoire \u0026ndash; the highest pineapple producer in Africa (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e). Statistics show that its export created about 20,000 jobs and accounted for 60% of Ghana\u0026rsquo;s non-traditional export value (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e). According to Annor et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e), export revenue enables pineapple farm enterprises to purchase improved capital inputs, such as farm equipment, which eventually increase farm output and open up new economic prospects among smallholder farmers.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGhana\u0026rsquo;s Central, Eastern, Grater Accra, and Volta regions are the primary locations for pineapple production (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). Three primary cultivars of pineapple are cultivated; these are the conical shaped extremely sweet, Sugarloaf (SL), the sweet juicy Smooth cayenne (SC) and the MD2 variety, which Del Monte introduced to Costa Rica (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e). The production of these cultivars is labour intensive, therefore, to achieve optimum yield, smallholder pineapple farmers apply agrochemicals in its different derivatives (fungicides, herbicides, agrochemicals, insecticides, and fertilizers) to control pest and diseases, and weeds, and improve other agronomic practices in the farm (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e). Unfortunately, prior studies have reported that agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers has increased with at least 10 types of agrochemicals employed from planting to harvesting (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e). Serious concerns about food safety, human health and the environment have been raised by industry players on the evidence of increasing trends of improper, unsafe, and indiscriminate agrochemical usage, as well as an increased use of unapproved application among farmers (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e). Again, it is noted that less than 1% of agrochemicals used to control pest actually reach the intended pests, while the remainder contaminates the environment by entering the soil, water and the air (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e). Agrochemicals residue also frequently finds its way into the pineapple food chain, where it can seriously harm human health (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e). For example, substantial malignant diseases and food poisoning cases have been attributed to agrochemicals residual effect (\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR15\" citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e16\u003c/span\u003e). Research indicates that Ghanaian food crop farmers and by extension pineapple farmers apply agrochemicals at rates that are between 1.3 and 13 times greater than those that are recommended (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e17\u003c/span\u003e). This case is confirmed by Eyi-Mensah (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e) which in a laboratory analysis detected high levels of agrochemical residue in pineapple fruits exceeding safety limits in the Central Region of Ghana. To lesson serious risks to the environment, food safety and public health issues, Ghanaian pineapple farmers\u0026rsquo; practices and behaviour towards safe use of agrochemicals must be improved, hence, farmers need to be trained to use and handle agrochemicals in safer ways (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e). Unfortunately, studies on behaviour of pineapple farmers towards the safe use of agrochemicals are limited (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMany scholars have adopted the Ajzen's (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e) Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and its extended version to predict the behaviour of farmers towards adopting safety use of agrochemicals (\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR22 CR23\" citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e21\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e24\u003c/span\u003e). Bagheri et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e) used TPB as base model to examine farmers\u0026rsquo; behaviour in reading and using risk information on pesticides labels in Iran. Savari et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e24\u003c/span\u003e) integrated norm activation model (NAM) and TPB to explain farmers\u0026rsquo; pro-environmental intentions which demonstrated the integration potential of ethical/social dimensions of TPB. Pirmoghni et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e21\u003c/span\u003e) used TPB to model knowledge, attitude and behaviour of tomato growers towards pesticides exposure. Sapkota et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e22\u003c/span\u003e) adopted the extended TPB model adding norm and awareness to study horticultural farmers. The additional variables in the TPB, increased the explanatory power of the model, justifying the strong predictive power of the extended TPB. Demi and Sicchia (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e) provides Ghana-specific background information on unsafe agrochemical practices. Boateng et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e26\u003c/span\u003e) highlights the need for improved safety training and institutional support to advance farmers\u0026rsquo; safety behaviour toward agrochemical use. Eyi-Mensah (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e) provides justification for safety behaviour intervention programmes among pineapple farmers in farmers in Ghana. FAO and WHO (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e27\u003c/span\u003e) recommends farmer education, safe handing, the use of PPEs and institutional oversight for agrochemical use among farmers globally, thus this study is very relevant and ethically significant as it would provide empirical data for policy makers for promulgate policies to improve agrochemical use behaviour among pineapple farmers in Ghana. Improving agrochemical safety behaviour is important component of sustainable agricultural transformation. Extension services are supposed to assist farmers change their behaviour in many developing nations, helping in striking a balance between productivity and environmental and health protection [7].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe purpose of this study was to determine how Ghanaian pineapple farmers\u0026rsquo; agrochemicals safety behaviour are influenced by agricultural extension services and to evaluate their contribution to the nation\u0026rsquo;s shift to inclusive and sustainable agroecological farming systems. This study specifically sought to examine [1] pineapple farmers\u0026rsquo; sources of information on safe agrochemicals use, [2] personal protective equipment used for agrochemicals application, [3] extension methods used for receiving intervention on safe agrochemicals use, and [4] safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in Ghana especially, in the Central and Eastern regions. This study was carried out to determine the factors influencing safety behaviour and intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e), given the inadequate knowledge regarding the subject of the current research. The TPB and conceptual model structures is covered in the next section.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Theoretical Framework","content":"\u003cp\u003eOne of the most significant models in the realm of technology adoption is the TPB model, which was developed by Ajzen (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e). The intention and behaviour of users to adopt a technology is analysed by the TPB model (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e–\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e31\u003c/span\u003e). Research indicate that the explanatory power of the variation in a user’s behaviour and intention to embrace a technology in the agricultural and other contexts can be explained by TPB (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e32\u003c/span\u003e–\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e34\u003c/span\u003e). Three primary constructs in this model - attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control – all relate to the intention and behaviour of utilising a technology (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e35\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e). The TPB model was designed by (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e) by extending the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e37\u003c/span\u003e). According to the theory, behaviour results from intention, which is impacted by attitudes towards that behaviour, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e). Although control over the execution of the behaviour must also be taken into account, intentions are the most important immediate predictor of behaviour (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e). Intentions are indications that people are ready to engage in a specific future behaviour (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e38\u003c/span\u003e). Intention therefore is determined by the readiness to execute the behaviour (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e39\u003c/span\u003e). The present study is predicated on the idea that intention accurately predicts planned behaviour, particularly when that behaviour is difficult to monitor (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e37\u003c/span\u003e). Likewise, because of the nature of the present study, the actual behaviour of pineapple farmers towards safe agrochemicals use has taken place several times over since agrochemicals spraying is a routine activity in pineapple production (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e). Some studies have predicted the direct relationship between intention and behaviour (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e40\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e41\u003c/span\u003e). Therefore, policymakers who are concerned with food safety, environmental sustainability and public health issues can benefit from knowing what pineapple farmers’ intention and behaviour towards safe pesticide use are. In that respect, the following hypothesis was put out by the current study:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eH\u003csub\u003e01\u003c/sub\u003e: Intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use predicts their safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study employed an extended TPB model with four constructs, acknowledging the study’s purpose and relevant literature: attitude towards safe agrochemicals use, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and effectiveness of extension training interventions on safe agrochemicals use. Attitude refers to an individual’s favourable or negative reaction to an activity (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e31\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e42\u003c/span\u003e). Prior research has demonstrated favourable correlations between attitudes and intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use in other contexts. For instance, Bagheri et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e) found that attitude showed impact on intention toward famers’ practices for handling agrochemicals safely in Meshginshahr of Ardabil Province, India. Asante et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e) found positive influence on intention of smallholder farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use in the Upper East region of Ghana. In Turkey, Baydur et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e30\u003c/span\u003e) also found attitude as the only predictor of farmers’ intention towards health and safety behaviour. Consequently, a second research hypothesis was proposed:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eH\u003csub\u003e02\u003c/sub\u003e: Attitude towards safe agrochemicals is positively correlated to pineapple farmers’ intention to engage in safe agrochemicals use.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe norms and values upheld by individuals as well as the pressure from society to carry out that action impact on a person’s intention to engage in that activity (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e). Therefore, subjective norms are defined as perceived pressure to act from influential people (such as family, friends, colleague farmers, buyers and extension agents) (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e43\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e44\u003c/span\u003e). In the Far Province of Iran, Maleksaeidi and Keshavarz (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e45\u003c/span\u003e) reported that subjective norm influenced farmers’ intention to conserve in-farm biodiversity. Govindharaj et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e46\u003c/span\u003e) found that in Eastern India, subjective norm was a determinant of rice farmers’ intention to use agrochemicals. It is therefore important to understand how environment affects farmers’ intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use, since their attitudes and opinions of significant other might influence their involvement in the industry (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e40\u003c/span\u003e). Consequently, a third research hypothesis was proposed:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eH\u003csub\u003e03\u003c/sub\u003e: Subjective norms positively correlated to pineapple farmers’ intention to engage in safe agrochemicals use.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePerceived behavioural control (PBC) is the ease or difficulty of an activity that is frequently used: the more someone feels that they have control over how the behaviour is carried out, the more likely they are to act in that way (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e47\u003c/span\u003e). PBC has continuously been associated with safe application of agrochemicals among famers, despite rather contradictory results of previous studies. Farmers who believe in sustainable agriculture have a greater intention to engage in safe agrochemicals use in their farming activities (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e). This is based on the premise that people are more likely to choose actions they feel are masterful and controllable (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e40\u003c/span\u003e). Aliabadi et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e44\u003c/span\u003e) researched into rural people’s intention to adopt sustainable water management by rain water harvesting practices and reported a significant impact on intention by perceived behavioural control. Gholamrezai et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e43\u003c/span\u003e) studied pro-environmental behaviour among green poultry farmers and found a significant relationship between PBC and intention. According to the TPB, farmers’ perceptions of the viability of carrying out safe agrochemicals use are influenced by their perceived behavioural control, and this view is therefore thought to be helpful in reaching the objective of adopting safe agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers. Consequently, a fourth research hypothesis was proposed:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eH\u003csub\u003e04\u003c/sub\u003e: Perceived behavioural control is positively correlated with pineapple farmers’ intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePrevious studies have reported that PBC have significant effect on actual behaviour (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e48\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e49\u003c/span\u003e). Carfora et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e48\u003c/span\u003e) examined consumer purchase behaviour for organic milk and concluded that PBC significantly impacts on behaviour in Italy. Asante et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e) reported that in Ghana’s Upper East region, vegetable farmers’ safe agrochemicals behaviour is influenced positively by PBC. Therefore, a fifth research hypothesis was proposed:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eH\u003csub\u003e05\u003c/sub\u003e: Perceived behavioural control is positively correlated to pineapple farmers’ safe agrochemicals use.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTPB has limitations, just like any other theory, and LaMorte (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e50\u003c/span\u003e) summarises the limitations as follows: that it makes the assumptions that the person regardless of the purpose, has the resources and opportunities necessary to successfully carry out the desired behaviour, and it also ignores the other elements that influence the behaviour and intention such as risk, anxiety, mode and prior experience. Fishbein and Ajzen (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e) proposed that the model can be extended to improve its predictability. Some studies have effectively extended the TPB model to great effect (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e46\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e51\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e52\u003c/span\u003e). The present study sought to use the extended TPB model due to the recommendations of Tsakiris et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e53\u003c/span\u003e) that more research is required to determine the effectiveness of interventions that could enhance farmers’ safety behaviour when applying agrochemicals, including agricultural extension training techniques such as seminars, training courses, and safe agrochemicals use demonstrations. According to Amghani et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e54\u003c/span\u003e), agricultural extension is a system designed to provide farmers, relevant organisation, and market players with access to knowledge, information, and technologies, facilitating their interaction with partners in agricultural research, education and trade (p.1). Thus, farmers would not have access to assistance and the services needed to enhance their farming and other productive endeavours with agricultural extension (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e55\u003c/span\u003e), making agricultural extension one of the most significant determinants of farmers’ behaviour at different levels (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e56\u003c/span\u003e). Agricultural extension methods are a variety of communication and education strategies that are adapted to the social, economic, and experiential differences of farmers (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e57\u003c/span\u003e). Building trust, influencing behaviour and successfully meeting the particular requirements of different farmers are the goals of these strategies (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e58\u003c/span\u003e). Many scholars have reported on the effectiveness of different extension methods which serves as the foundation to improving the behaviour of farmers in different contexts (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e59\u003c/span\u003e–\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e62\u003c/span\u003e). Based on the objective of this study to examine the effectiveness of extension methods for providing intervention on safe agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers, sixth and seventh research hypotheses were proposed in order to extend the TPB model:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eH\u003csub\u003e06\u003c/sub\u003e: Effectiveness of extension methods is positively correlated to pineapple farmers’ intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eH\u003csub\u003e07\u003c/sub\u003e: Effectiveness of extension methods is positively correlated to pineapple farmers’ safety behaviour towards pesticide use.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFigure \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e presents the extended TPB conceptual model for the study with hypothetical relationship.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e "},{"header":"Methodology","content":"\u003ch2\u003eProfile of Study area\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe study was conducted in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions, two of the four pineapple producing regions in Ghana. The Greater Accra region, Volta, Eastern, and Central regions are the primary locations for pineapple production in Ghana (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). The Central region makes up of 9,631 square kilometres while the Eastern Region also covers 16,705 square kilometres respectively (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e63\u003c/span\u003e). The two regions are boarded by the Greater Region, Volta Region, Western Region and the Ashanti Region (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e). According to the 2021 population and housing census, the two regions have a composite population of 5,785,474 inhabitants (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e64\u003c/span\u003e). August has the lowest average monthly temperature of 24.7\u003csup\u003eo\u003c/sup\u003eC, while March has the highest at 32.7\u003csup\u003eo\u003c/sup\u003eC (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e65\u003c/span\u003e). The regions experience a by-modal rainfall pattern. The prime agricultural seasons in the regions are May – June, while the secondary seasons are September – October (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e66\u003c/span\u003e). Relative humidity is from 50 to 85%, and annual rainfall ranging from 750 to 1,000 mm, while in the forest areas it ranges from 1,200 to 1,500 mm, making the climate favourable for growing pineapples (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e). In particular, smallholder pineapple farmers from the following districts were survey: Ekumfi and Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem in the Central region (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e67\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e68\u003c/span\u003e) and Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipality and the Upper West Akim District in the Eastern region (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e). Respondents worked directly or indirectly in the pineapple industry in these areas where there are pineapple processing factories (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDesign, Sampling, Instrument and Data collection\u003c/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe paper adopted the cross-sectional survey design to sample pineapple farmers in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions. The approach was utilised to gather primary data and plan for future research on safe agrochemicals use behaviour among pineapple farmers in the study area (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e69\u003c/span\u003e). Cross-sectional survey design was used to enable pineapple farmers self-report their experiences and perspectives regarding safe agrochemicals use in pineapple production (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e70\u003c/span\u003e). The design incorporated a snapshot of pertinent data regarding safe use of agrochemicals including sources of information on safe agrochemicals use, and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) at one point in time (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e71\u003c/span\u003e). The objective was to ascertain the degree of exposure of pineapple farmers to unsafe agrochemicals use in the study area (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e72\u003c/span\u003e). The population of the study comprised all smallholder pineapple farmers in the two regions. Cochran's (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e73\u003c/span\u003e) formula for calculating sample size of a population was used to establish the study’s sample size. The formula is expressed as:\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"data:image/png;base64,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\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe expected sample size was rounded to 400 smallholder pineapple farmers. Using data from different pineapple cooperatives in each of the study regions, a random sample of 200 pineapple farmers (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e) from each community (16 communities and 4 districts) were chosen, despite the fact that smallholder pineapple farmers made up a significant number of the population in the study area. In order to prevent bias, the farmers were sampled to ensure that farms from different farmer cooperatives were adequately represented (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e). A structured questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. The instrument was sectioned into two parts. Section one elicited information on the socio-demographic characteristics and farm-related variables including age, sex, level of education, years of farming experience, sources of information on safe agrochemicals use and PPEs. The second section was used to gather data on the extended TPB constructs [attitudes (six items), behavioural intention (seven items), intention (seven items), subjective norm (five items), and perceived behavioural control (six items) and effectiveness of extension training sources (six items). The TPB constructs were adopted from Fishbein and Ajzen (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e) while the extension training method were adopted from FAO (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e55\u003c/span\u003e). Five point Likert type scale of 1 = very low agreement; 2 = low agreement; 3 = moderate agreement; 4 = high agreement and 5 = very high agreement. was adopted as the scale for measuring the extended TPB construct. Two experts in agricultural extension contributed to the structure of the instrument, guaranteeing its face and content validity. The experts provided their feedback on the instruments’ format, logical relationship and appropriateness and also verified the representativeness, completeness and relevance of the instrument for a study of safety behaviour on agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e74\u003c/span\u003e). The instrument was pre-tested with 20 smallholder pineapple farmers in the Gomoa East district. McDonald’s Omega coefficient was computed to examine the internal consistency in the Likert-type items (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e75\u003c/span\u003e). The results indicate that McDonald’s Omega coefficient ranged between 0.77 for intention and 0.91 for perceived behavioural control. The instrument was then deemed as reliable and prepared for the actual data collection (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e76\u003c/span\u003e). Prior data collection, Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Education, Winneba in accordance with the principles of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki (Approval No. SGS-049/EC/ Vol.3/16). Participation was voluntary, and informed consent was secured from all respondents before completing survey. For main data collection, 400 copies of the instrument were printed. During data collection, four enumerators received training on how to record responses and posed questions. Every respondent was made aware of the study’s purpose, the fact that no personal information would be recorded, and that the entire survey would remain anonymous. Oral informed consent was acquired at the time of the initial data gathering. After two months (May to June 2023) of data collection, 301 filled questionnaires were returned representing 75.25% response rate (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e74\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eInternational Business Machine’s Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) version 27 was utilised for data cleaning, coding and preparation for analysis. The study used descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation to analyse data of farmers’ socio-demographic characteristics, sources of information on safe agrochemicals use, and the use of PPEs. Means, standard deviations, correlations, coefficients of determination and related indices were computed to examine the extended TPB constructs with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e77\u003c/span\u003e). Smart PLS version 4.0 was the software used for computing the PLS-SEM (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e78\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eSocio-demographic characteristics\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eTable\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e presents the socio-demographic characteristics of pineapple farmers. The results indicate that eight in every ten (81.4%) pineapple farmers were males with an average age of 42.52\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;15.02 years. More than three-fourth (76.1%) were between 21 and 50 years with one-fifth (20.9%) above 50 years old. Six in every ten farmers (60.8%) possess less than 10 years of pineapple farming experience. Close to three in every ten (28.6%) have been cultivating pineapples for 11 and 20 years. The rest representing (10.6%) have between 21 and 50 years of farming experience. The mean years of pineapple farming experience is 11.16\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;8.20 years. More than four-fifth (82.4%) of the farmers were formally educated in proportions of primary education (10.3%), junior high school (18.3%), senior high school (14.0%) and tertiary education (39.9%). Close to two-thirds (64.8%) of the farmers were married with farming as their primary occupation (59.8%). Close to one-fourth (22.9%) combines farming with official employments while the rest combines farming with trading in general goods and services (17.3%). Majority (80.7%) of the farmers indicated that they finance their farming enterprise without access to credit. More than half (52.5%) of farmers noted that they do not have access to agricultural extension services through Extension Agents. On the other hand, farmers who had access to Extension Agents had an average of 10.45\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;5.55 engagement in one growing season. The farmers were generally medium scale farmers cultivating an average of 4.37\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;4.12 hectares of pineapple fields. Close to four in every five (79.4%) farmers cultivated 1 to 10 hectares of pineapple farms.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSocio-demographic characteristics of pineapple farmers\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariables\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrequency\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercent\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSex\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMale\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e245\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e81.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFemale\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e56\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e18.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAge of farmers (Mean\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;42.52\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;15.02 years)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026le;\u0026thinsp;20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21\u0026ndash;30\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e65\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e31\u0026ndash;40\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e86\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e41\u0026ndash;50\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e78\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e51\u0026ndash;60\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e32\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;60\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e31\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFarming experience (Mean\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;11.16\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;8.20 years)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u0026ndash;10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e183\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e60.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u0026ndash;20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e86\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21\u0026ndash;30\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e31\u0026ndash;40\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e41\u0026ndash;50\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEducation\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo formal Education\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e53\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePrimary\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e31\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eJSS/JHS\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e55\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e18.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSSS/SHS\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e42\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTertiary\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e120\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e39.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMarital status\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMarried\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e195\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e64.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSingle\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e58\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eWidowed\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e27\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDivorced\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePrimary occupation\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFarming Only\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e180\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e59.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFarming and Trading\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e52\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFarming and Official Work\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e69\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAccess to Credit\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e58\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e243\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e80.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAccess to Extension Agents\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e143\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e47.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e158\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e52.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNumber of contact times in a season (mean\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;10.45\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;5.22 times)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u0026ndash;10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e80\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u0026ndash;20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e61\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21\u0026ge;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFarm Size (Mean\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;4.37\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;4.12 Ha)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026le;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e31\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u0026ndash;5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e180\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e59.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6\u0026ndash;10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e59\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u0026ndash;15\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16\u0026ndash;20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"3\"\u003eSource: Field data (2023) n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;301\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSources to information on safe agrochemicals use\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFarmers\u0026rsquo; sources of information on safe use of agrochemicals is presented in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e. The main source of information on safe use of agrochemicals available to farmers was from processing companies (59.1%), followed by agricultural extension agents (47.5%). More than one-fourth of the famers also indicated that they access information on agrochemicals from friends (28.9%) and agricultural input dealers (26.6%.)\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSources to information on safe use of agrochemicals\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eInformation Source\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrequency*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercent\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProcessing companies\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e178\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e59.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAgricultural Extension Agents\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e143\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e47.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFriends\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e87\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eInput dealers\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e80\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOn the internet\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eExport companies\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"3\"\u003e*Multiple responses, n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;301\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePersonal protective equipment (PPEs) used for agrochemicals application\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTable\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e shows the PPEs worn by farmers during agrochemicals applications on their pineapple farms. Almost all farmers indicated that they wore a pair of trousers (98.7%), long-sleeve shirts (98.7%), a pair of hand gloves (94.0%), and Wallington boots (89.7%). More than two-thirds (68.4%) of the farmers indicated that they wore overall clothing to protect their whole bodies during spraying of agrochemicals. Furthermore, more than half (57.5%) of the farmers used nose masks or respirators. Other PPEs used by farmers include googles (42.5%) and head hats (40.9%).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePersonal protective equipment used for agrochemicals application\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePPEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrequency*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercent\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePair of Trousers\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e297\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e98.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLong-sleeved Shirt\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e297\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e98.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHand Gloves\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e283\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e94.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eWellington Boots\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e270\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e89.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOverall Clothing\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e206\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e68.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNose Mask/Respirator\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e173\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e57.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGoggles\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e128\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e42.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHead Hat\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e123\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e40.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"3\"\u003e*Multiple responses, n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;301\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eExtension methods used for receiving training on safe use of agrochemicals\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eFarmer Based Organization meetings (51.5%) and training courses or workshops (50.2%) are two main agricultural extension methods used for instructing farmers on safe use of agrochemicals. More than two-fifth of the farmers received their training during farmer field schools (45.8%), demonstrations (45.8%), field days (42.5%) and village extension meetings (42.5%).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab4\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 4\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eExtension methods used for receiving training on safe use of agrochemicals\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eExtension methods\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrequency*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercent\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFBO meetings\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e155\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e51.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTraining course/Workshops\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e151\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e50.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFarmer field schools\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e138\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e45.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDemonstrations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e138\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e45.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eField days\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e128\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e42.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVillage extension meeting\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e128\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e42.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSeminars\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e89\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"3\"\u003e*Multiple responses, n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;301\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eDrivers of safety behaviour in agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eTable\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e presents the TPB drivers of safety behaviour in agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in Ghana. Safety behaviour recorded the highest overall score while effectiveness of extension training sources recorded the lowest score. The pineapple farmers rated their safety behaviour in agrochemicals use as very high with overall mean of 4.45\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.57. Even though farmers were in very high agreement on keeping records of agrochemicals sprayed, the use of PPEs during spraying and disposing-off of agrochemicals leftovers at appropriate locations, they highly agreed that they dispose-off water used for rinsing sprayers, washing sprayers and agrochemicals containers at appropriate locations. Attitude of farmers towards safe agrochemicals use scored the second highest overall mean of 4.22\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.72. Farmers highly agreed that safe disposal of agrochemicals leftovers is beneficial in pineapple production, the keeping of records of agrochemicals spraying is valuable and safe agrochemicals application in pineapple production is good. Intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use recorded the third highest overall mean score of 4.09\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.71. Farmers intend to buy only the needed agrochemicals at a time, adopt digital spraying devices for spraying agrochemicals, properly dispose-off leftover solutions and adopt safety agrochemicals use to enhance work output in pineapple production. Intention was followed by subjective norms with an overall mean score of 3.83\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.01. Farmers highly agreed that family members, farmer colleagues, friends, buyers and extension agents expect them to practice safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in pineapple production. Perceived behavioural control came after subjective norms with an overall mean score of 3.67\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.95. The results indicate that farmers highly agreed that they could adopt safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in a few months. They also highly agreed that their practices of safety behaviour in agrochemicals in pineapple production is completely up to them. Also, farmers indicated that they have complete control over safety behaviour on agrochemicals and possess sufficient self-confidence to make decisions to adopt safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in pineapple production. Effectiveness of extension training sources scored the least overall mean of 2.41\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.20. The farmers had low agreement with respect to the effectiveness of agricultural extension training sources on safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in pineapple production. Although farmers had low agreement on the effectiveness of village extension meeting, demonstrations and seminars are effective for training farmers on safety behaviour in agrochemicals use, and they had moderate agreement that FBO meetings, training courses or workshops and field days are effective platforms for training farmers to improve safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in pineapple production in Ghana.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab5\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 5\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDrivers of safety behaviour in agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstructs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMean\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eS.D\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBehaviour towards safe agrochemicals use (BEH)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI keep record of agrochemicals I spray on my farm\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.60\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.68\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI use personal protective equipment (PPEs) during sprayings\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.57\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.68\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI dispose-off agrochemicals leftovers at appropriate location\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.74\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI read information on agrochemicals labels before spraying\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.46\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.69\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI dispose-off water used for rinsing sprayers at appropriate locations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.41\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.81\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI wash agrochemicals sprayers at appropriate locations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.40\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.83\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI dispose-off used agrochemicals containers at appropriate locations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.26\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.02\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOverall mean\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e4.45\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e0.57\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAttitudes towards safe agrochemicals use (ATT)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSafe disposal of agrochemicals leftovers is beneficial in pineapple production\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.28\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.89\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eKeeping records of agrochemicals sprayings is valuable in pineapple production`\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.25\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.94\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSafe agrochemicals application in pineapple production is good\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.23\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.94\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSafe disposal of agrochemicals containers makes pineapple farming productive\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.99\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSafe agrochemicals application are important for improving quality of fruits\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.95\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eWearing PPEs when spraying agrochemicals is useful in pineapple production\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.16\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.86\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOverall mean\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e4.22\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e0.72\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntention to adopt safe agrochemicals use (INT)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI plan to buy only the needed agrochemicals for spraying at a time in the near future\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.31\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.88\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI intend to adopt digital spraying technologies for pineapple farming activities\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.98\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI plan to properly dispose-off agrochemicals leftover solutions in the near future\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.18\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.91\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI plan to adopt safety agrochemicals use to enhance my work output\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.94\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI intend to store unused agrochemicals in a separate warehouse\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI intend to use agrochemicals appropriately on my pineapple farm in the near future\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.12\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.00\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI intend to give unused agrochemicals solution to the neighbouring farmers\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.55\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOverall mean\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e4.09\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e0.71\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSubjective norm (SN)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMy family members think I should practice safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple farming\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.94\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMy colleague farmers think that it is good to adopt safety behaviour on agrochemicals\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.86\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.00\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMy friends want me to exhibit safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.83\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.23\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMy buyers I respect would like me to practice safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.75\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.24\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eExtension Agents like me to practice safety behaviour in agrochemicals use in pineapple production\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.52\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOverall mean\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e3.83\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1.01\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePerceived Behavioural Control (PBC)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIf I really wanted to I could adopt safety behaviour on pesticide in the next few months\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.11\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e.84\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMy practices of safety behaviour in agrochemicals in pineapple production is completely up to me\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.73\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.04\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI have complete control over safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.62\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI have sufficient self-confidence to make the decision to adopt safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.56\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.40\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI have sufficient control to make the decision to adopt safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.54\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.33\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI have sufficient knowledge to practice safety behaviour on agrochemicals in pineapple production\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.44\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOverall mean\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e3.67\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e0.95\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEffectiveness of training sources (EFF)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFBO meetings\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.69\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.63\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTraining course/Workshops\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.53\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.58\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eField days\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.61\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVillage extension meeting\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.48\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.61\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDemonstrations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.36\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.55\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSeminars\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.06\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.46\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOverall mean\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2.41\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1.20\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMeans were calculated on a 5-point scale of 1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;very low agreement; 2\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;low agreement; 3\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;moderate agreement; 4\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;high agreement and 5\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;very high agreement.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eAssessment of extended TPB measurement model\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eTable\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e presents results of the study on criteria for assessing the measurement model of the extended TPB model. Indices including factor loadings, Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s Alpha, Joreskog\u0026rsquo;s rho A (computed with the unstandardized loading), rho C (computed with the standardised loadings) were used to assess the reliability of the model while average variance extracted (AVE) criteria were used to assess convergent validity of the extended TPB measurement model. When the factor loadings of the extended TPB model were assessed, the results revealed that all constructs had factor loadings greater than 0.70 except BEH1, BEH2, INT1, INT4, INT7, PBC1, SN1, EFF1, and EFF5 which had factor loadings less than 0.07, hence were deleted from the model. The rest of the indicators of the extended TPB constructs that met the threshold were deemed to have achieved reliability (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR79\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e79\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR80\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e80\u003c/span\u003e). Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha and Joreskog\u0026rsquo;s rho A and rho C indices also showed values greater 0.70, establishing that internal consistency (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR81\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e81\u003c/span\u003e) and indicator reliability (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR82\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e82\u003c/span\u003e). Convergent validity of the model was assessed with average variance extracted (AVE) indices. The results revealed that AVE indices were greater than the recommended threshold of 0.50 (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR83\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e83\u003c/span\u003e). The extended TPB model was deemed to have achieved convergent validity (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR84\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e84\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab6\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 6\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFactor loadings, reliability and convergent validity criteria\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstructs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLoadings\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCronbach\u0026rsquo;s Alpha\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eρA\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eρC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAVE\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAttitudes (ATT)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eATT1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.77\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.87\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.88\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.90\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.61\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eATT2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.81\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eATT3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.76\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eATT4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.79\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eATT5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.76\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eATT6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.78\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBehaviour (BEH)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBEH3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.70\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.85\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.86\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.89\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.62\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBEH4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.75\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBEH5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.85\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBEH6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.84\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBEH7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.81\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIntention (INT)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eINT2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.73\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.77\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.77\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.85\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.59\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eINT3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.77\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eINT5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.80\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eINT6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.78\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c3\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePerceived Behavioural Control (PBC)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePBC2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.73\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.91\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.92\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.93\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.74\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePBC3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.88\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePBC4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.88\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePBC5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.89\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePBC6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.90\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c3\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSubjective Norms (SN)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSN2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.93\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.91\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.95\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.94\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.78\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSN3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.92\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSN4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.90\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSN5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.79\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c3\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEffectiveness of Training Methods (EFF)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEFF2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.90\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.90\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.97\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.92\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.71\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEFF3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.91\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEFF4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.78\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEFF6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.71\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEFF7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.89\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"6\"\u003eATT: Attitudes; BEH: Behaviour; EFF: Effectiveness of Training Methods; INT: Intention; PBC: Perceived Behavioural Control; SN: Subjective Norms; AVE: Average Variance Extracted;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHenseler et al.'s (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR85\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e85\u003c/span\u003e) heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) criteria for assessing discriminant validity of models was utilised to examine the discriminant validity of the extended TPB model (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab7\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e). The HTMT ratio is the ratio of the mean score of the construct indicator correlation across constructs comparative to the (geometric) mean of the average correlation for the indicators measuring the same construct (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR84\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e84\u003c/span\u003e). With HTMT ratio scores of the TPB model less than the suggested threshold of 0.85 for all constructs in the model, the TPB model was deemed to have achieved discriminant validity (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR79\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e79\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab7\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 7\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDiscriminant validity of the extended TPB model based the HTMT criteria\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstructs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eATT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBEH\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEFF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eINT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePBC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSN\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eATT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBEH\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.57\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEFF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.34\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.25\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eINT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.58\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.53\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.28\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePBC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.32\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.30\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.71\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.30\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSN\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.37\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.30\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.70\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.28\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.70\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003eATT: Attitudes; BEH: Behaviour; EFF: Effectiveness of Training Methods; INT: Intention; PBC: Perceived Behavioural Control; SN: Subjective Norms\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eAssessment of the structural model\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe structural model of the TPB model was assessed using variance inflation factor (VIF), coefficient of determination \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e, and the \u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e effect size indices (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab8\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e). VIF was used to examine the probability of multi-collinearity inflating the outcome of the model (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR84\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e84\u003c/span\u003e). The rule of thumb for determining whether the outcome of the study was not influenced by multi-collinearity, the VIF score should be less than three or approximately three (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR77\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e77\u003c/span\u003e). The VIF values of the extended TPB model were less than the threshold of three (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab8\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e). The results indicate that the extended TPB model was not influenced by multi-collinearity (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR84\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e84\u003c/span\u003e). When the coefficients of determination (\u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e) of the endogenous constructs, that is BEH and INT of the model were assessed to explain the variation accounted for by their respective exogenous construct to determine the in-sample explanatory power of the extended TPB model (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR86\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e86\u003c/span\u003e), the recommended clarification of \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e values of 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 interpreted as weak, moderate and substantial respectively were used (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR87\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e87\u003c/span\u003e). The behaviour of pineapple farmers towards safe use of agrochemicals is weak (BEH: \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.21). The findings imply that the intention of pineapple farmers to apply agrochemicals under safety conditions, perceived behavioural control and effectiveness of extension methods used for training farmers on safe agrochemicals usage accounted for 21% of the variance in behaviour towards safe agrochemicals use. On the other hand, the \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e value of intention was slightly moderate (INT: \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.26), indicating that attitude towards safe agrochemicals use, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and effectiveness of extension training methods collectively predicted 26% of the variance in intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use which is slightly moderate. Cohen's (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR88\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e88\u003c/span\u003e) criteria for evaluating effect size was used to examine the effect of each of the exogenous constructs on their respective endogenous constructs. According to Cohen\u0026rsquo;s criteria, \u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e values greater than 0.02, 0.15 and 0.35 were classified as small, medium and large effect respectively. Intention had medium effect (\u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e: INT\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.18) on behaviour, while perceived behavioural control (\u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e: PBC\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.01) and effectiveness of extension training methods (\u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e: EFF\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.00) had no effect on behaviour (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab8\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e). Furthermore, attitude (\u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e: ATT\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.23) had medium effect on intention, whereas perceived behavioural control (PBC: \u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.00), subjective norms (SN: \u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.00) and effectiveness of extension training methods (EFF: \u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.00) had no effect on intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab8\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 8\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eExtended TPB structural Model indices\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"10\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c9\" colnum=\"9\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c10\" colnum=\"10\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRelationships\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e95% BCa CI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eBeta coefficients\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eT statistics\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eP-values\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLL\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eUL\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVIF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDecision\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eINT -\u0026gt; BEH\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.39*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.67\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.27\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.49\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.09\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.18\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMedium\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePBC -\u0026gt; BEH\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.84\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.07\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.01\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.29\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.80\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.01\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo effect\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEFF -\u0026gt; BEH\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.03\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.47\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.64\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.80\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo effect\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eATT -\u0026gt; INT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.45*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.44\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.33\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.54\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.16\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.26\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.23\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMedium\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEFF -\u0026gt; INT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.03\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.44\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.66\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo effect\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePBC -\u0026gt; INT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.29\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.19\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.06\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.24\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.03\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo effect\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSN -\u0026gt; INT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.02\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.32\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.75\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.13\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.16\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.96\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo effect\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eATT: Attitudes; BEH: Behaviour; EFF: Effectiveness of Training Methods; INT: Intention; PBC: Perceived Behavioural Control; SN: Subjective Norms; LL: Lower limit; UL: Upper limit; \u003cem\u003ef\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e: Effect size; \u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cem\u003e2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e: Coefficient of determination; VIF: Variance Inflation Factor.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eDirect relationships and beta coefficients\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe statistical significance of the extended TPB model of the study with 301 respondents was assessed using the bootstrapping technique (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR84\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e84\u003c/span\u003e). Beta coefficient and t-statistics were calculated using the bootstrap process in PLS-SEM with 5000 samples at a 95% confidence interval (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR78\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e78\u003c/span\u003e). The results indicate that only two of the relationships in the extended TPB model were significant (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab8\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e). For instance, we observed a direct positive significant relationship between intention and behaviour (INT -\u0026gt; BEH: \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.39, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.00) of pineapple farmers toward safe use of agrochemicals. The positive direct relationship indicates that pineapple farmers have very strong intention towards adopting safe agrochemicals use which ultimately affects their behaviour. This result suggests that a unit increase in farmers\u0026rsquo; mean intention (4.09\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.71), would result in 39% increase on safety behaviour among pineapple farmers in the study area, hence hypothesis 1 was accepted. On the other hand, perceived behavioural control (PBC -\u0026gt; BEH: \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.14, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.07) and effectiveness of extension training methods (EFF -\u0026gt; BEH: \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.03, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.47) had no significant effect on behaviour of pineapple farmers towards adoption of safe agrochemicals use. The results of the no significant effect of perceived behavioural control and effectiveness of extension training methods indicate that the extended TPB model implemented in the study area did not support hypotheses 2 and 3.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFurthermore, out of the four exogenous constructs linked with intention, only attitude showed positive direct relationship with intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use. The direct positive relationship between attitude and intention (ATT -\u0026gt; INT: \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.45, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.00) indicate that the extended TPB model support hypothesis 4. This implies that a one-point increase in mean attitude (4.22\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.72) would produce a 45% increase in intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use in the study area. On the contrary, the relation between intention and perceived behavioural control (PBC -\u0026gt; INT: \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.10, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.19), subjective norm (SN -\u0026gt; INT: \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.02, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.75) and effectiveness of extension training methods (EFF -\u0026gt; INT: \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.03, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.66) were not significant. The results suggest that pineapple farmers\u0026rsquo; perception of control over safe agrochemicals use, the view of family, peers, friends and extension agents, and effectiveness of extension training methods did not affect the intention of farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use. Hence, the study did not support hypotheses 5, 6 and 7. Figure\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e presents the extended TPB model of pineapple farmers\u0026rsquo; behaviour towards safe agrochemicals use.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe extended version of the TPB model was used as the theoretical framework to examine the behaviour of pineapple farmers towards safe use of agrochemicals in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions. Previous studies have reported that agrochemicals are employed by pineapple growers either in the field or to treat fruits after harvest (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e89\u003c/span\u003e). These agrochemicals were chosen without taking into account the partially authorized ones (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e) warranting a study on compliance and safety behaviour on agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in the Central and Eastern regions of Ghana (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e). Several scholars have examined the intention and behaviour of farmers towards adopting ecologically friendly pest management practices with the TPB model, proving its ability to accurately predict safety behaviour among farmers in agrochemicals use (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e46\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e51\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e52\u003c/span\u003e). This present study adopted the extended TPB model to provide evidence on the recommendations of Tsakiris et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e53\u003c/span\u003e) that more studies are needed to evaluate effectiveness of appropriate interventions through varied extension training methods including training programmes and demonstration projects, that could enhance farmers’ safety behaviour when applying agrochemicals. Some studies have looked at the effect of agrochemicals in pineapple production (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e90\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e91\u003c/span\u003e), however, studies on safety behaviour of agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers adopting the TPB is inadequate in the Ghanaian context. Furthermore, much attention had not been paid to the effectiveness of extension training methods as interventions on safe agrochemicals use on intention and safety behaviour of agrochemicals among pineapple farmers in Ghana. This study provides empirical data on safety behaviour on agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions and the important information about pineapple farmers’ safety behaviour that may be applied to improve the efficiency of extension services in the two pineapple growing regions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe results indicate that intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use accounted for 21% of the variation in safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions. The positive significant effect of the relationship suggests that farmers’ safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use in pineapple production improves when they are highly prepared to engage in that behaviour (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e46\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e51\u003c/span\u003e). Intention is triggered spontaneously, as performance prospects are repeated, removing the necessity of deliberate behaviour before acting (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e39\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e53\u003c/span\u003e). The positive effect of intention on behaviour mirrors the finding of previous studies (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e41\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e46\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e92\u003c/span\u003e). Asante et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e) reported a positive effect of intention on agrochemicals use behaviour among farmers in the Upper East of Ghana. Again, Asante et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e41\u003c/span\u003e) found a strong relationship between extension agents’ intention and behaviour towards adopting digital technologies for agricultural extension. Yang et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e92\u003c/span\u003e) also found that farmers’ intention have a major influence on how often they use agrochemicals, suggesting that intention has a favourable influence on behaviour related to safe agrochemicals use. On the contrary, a study on farmers’ behaviour regarding safe use of agrochemicals found that behaviour was significantly predicted by perceived behavioural control and not intention (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e). However, consistent with the results of this study is that of Wastutiningsih and Aulia (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e) which reported that household food waste behaviour was not significantly impacted by perceived behavioural control. However, it should be highlighted that a person’s moral obligations, beliefs, and awareness of the repercussions, as well as the necessity of keeping an eye on their actions to prevent unfavourable outcomes, all have an impact on their behaviour (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e46\u003c/span\u003e). This implies that even when people adhere to societal standards, they are the only one who seek out behaviours that satisfy their inner selves, fit with their values and gives them a sense of independence and self-sufficiency (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e93\u003c/span\u003e). Hence, a person feels more liberated and fulfilled on the inside when they act in a way that is motivated by their personal beliefs (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e30\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGiven the non-significant effect of perceived behavioural control on safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers, our results suggest that farmers were not adequately prepared to embrace safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e). This finding is consistent with pineapple farmers’ low rating of the effectiveness of extension intervention geared towards improved safety behaviour in agrochemicals application which is also not significant. The research of Tsakiris et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e53\u003c/span\u003e) led to the inclusion of effectiveness of extension training method on safe application of agrochemicals to predict farmers’ intention and safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use. Our results indicated that effectiveness of extension training method on safe use of agrochemicals did not affect the intention and safety behaviour of among pineapple farmers in the Central and Eastern regions of Ghana. The results is similar to the findings of Asante et al. (2023) which reported no significant effect of past behaviour in intention of smallholder maize farmers to adopt integrated pest management practices for fall armyworm control in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Some studies have included other variables in the TPB model and reported positive effects (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e35\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e), however, our studies showed contrary results to the inclusion of effectiveness of extension training methods on intention and behaviour. We presume that the no impact of effectiveness of extension training methods of instruction for safe agrochemicals application on intention and safety behaviour among pineapple farmers is intimately tied to the perception of farmers that these extension methods were low in effectively addressing safety behaviour in agrochemicals application. Ahmed and Adisa (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e60\u003c/span\u003e) studied the effectiveness of agricultural extension methods used to disseminate improved technologies in Kogi State, Nigeria and reported that field demonstration activities and individual contact method were observed as the most effective extension training methods. Somanje et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e61\u003c/span\u003e) found that Ghanaian farmers view agricultural extension training as less effective than Zambian farmers, who view it as highly effective (72%). While AL-Sharafat et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e94\u003c/span\u003e) observed no discernible difference in the effectiveness of agricultural extension between farmers who were beneficiaries of extension services and those who were not in Jordan, Agbarevo and Benjamin (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e95\u003c/span\u003e) found an even lower perception of 39.65% in Cross River State, Nigeria. Davidson and Ahmad (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e96\u003c/span\u003e) concluded that both government and private extension providers were ineffective at meeting the expectations of cotton growers in Pakistan’s Punjab Province. According to Kumaran et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e97\u003c/span\u003e) farmers in two Indian states felt that commercial agricultural extension was more successful than public extension services, which needed to be improved. The results of this study when juxtaposed with previous studies show that majority of the pineapple farmers may greatly benefit from partnerships in terms of improved agricultural extension services from both public and private extension service providers.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe results also indicate that out of the other three variables linked with intention, only attitude exhibited significant effect on intention while subjective norm and perceived behavioural control had no effect. Attitude predicted 26% of the variation in intention of pineapple farmers to adopt safe agrochemicals use in pineapple production. The findings suggest that when pineapple farmers possess positive attitude towards safe agrochemicals use, it would result in greater intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use in the study area. Sarma (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e98\u003c/span\u003e) discovered that farmers’ intention to apply agrochemicals properly were influenced by attitude, underscoring the significance of cultivating a favourable attitude towards safe agrochemicals use in order to reduce risks and improve overall agricultural productivity. The results are consistent with those of Asante et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e) which found that farmers intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use in the Upper East of Ghana was significantly predicted by their positive attitude. The results were also in line with findings of Imran et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e99\u003c/span\u003e) who found that the association between good attitude and intention to adopt protective agrochemicals use behaviour, suggesting that farmers who have a positive attitude are more likely to use agrochemicals safely. Our results suggest that rather than following social pressures and their ability to control their safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use, pineapple farmers in the Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions are more motivated by their own personal belief (attitude) towards safe agrochemicals use in pineapple production.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe non-significant effect of both subjective norm and perceived behavioural control on intention indicates that opinions of influential people including colleague farmers, family, friends and extension agents, and farmers’ perception in their ability to carry out safety behaviour practices in agrochemicals use did not impact on their intention to exhibit the behaviour. Numerous factors have been attributed to the lack of significant impact of PBC and subjective norm on intention (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e100\u003c/span\u003e–\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e102\u003c/span\u003e). The impact of perceived behavioural control varies based on the context within which the behaviour is exhibited but subjective norm frequently exhibits a limited influence on intention (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e102\u003c/span\u003e). According to Dodaj et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e103\u003c/span\u003e), peer pressure may not be the main determinant of testing intention among college students, and subjective norm did not significantly predict testing intention.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnother study found that subjective norm had no discernible impact on purchasing intention in the study on buying environmentally friendly plastic, indicating that social pressure or expectations could not be the primary drivers of consumer behaviour (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e100\u003c/span\u003e). Compared to other TPB components, a meta-analysis revealed that subjective norm frequently had less association with intention (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e101\u003c/span\u003e). This could be because perceived behavioural control has a moderating impact that can lessen the effect of subjective norm (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e102\u003c/span\u003e). Similar to the findings of this study is that of Asante et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e41\u003c/span\u003e) which also reported no effect of perceived behavioural control on intention of agricultural extension agents to adopt digital technologies for extension delivery. This implies that pineapple farmers did not change their intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use despite knowing that they did not have control over their behaviour (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e). Although its impact can vary depending on the circumstances, it has been shown that perceived behavioural control favourably influences intention to buy environmentally friendly products (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e100\u003c/span\u003e). Even though perceived behavioural control and subjective norms are essential components of TPB, their influence on intention might vary (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e101\u003c/span\u003e). This variation could result from the context, the particular behaviour under study or the way they interact with other TPB constructs (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e104\u003c/span\u003e). To investigate these patterns across many groups and behaviour, more research is required.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAgain, more than half of the pineapple farmers indicated that they frequently receive extension trainings on safe agrochemicals use during farmer-based organization meetings and training workshops, while some also receive training on agrochemicals use during farmer field schools and demonstrations. The findings is consistent with popular extension methods where farmers usually receive training or instructions on safe agrochemicals use (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e55\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e105\u003c/span\u003e). The extensive use of PPEs by farmers in this study is also consistent with previous studies which reported high use of PPEs among farmers in Ghana (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e106\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e107\u003c/span\u003e). Moreover, we observed from the results that more than half of the pineapple farmers obtain information on safe agrochemicals use from processing companies followed by the agricultural extension agents from the state owned Departments of Agriculture in the study area. This pattern emphasizes how important these organizations are in dissemination information about pesticide safety. Pineapple farmers’ dependence on agricultural extension agents and processing firms underscore how crucial organized and reliable information sources are to encouraging farmers to use agrochemicals safely (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e). This pattern is in line with research findings from other studies that highlight the value of diverse information sources in improving farmers’ agrochemicals use behaviour and reduced health risks (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e53\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e108\u003c/span\u003e–\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e110\u003c/span\u003e). More than half of the farmers relied on processing companies as their main information source, demonstrating their impact in the pineapple supply chain. Tsakiris et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e53\u003c/span\u003e) noted that in order to guarantee the quality and safety of processed food, these processing firms frequently offer guidelines and training on safe agrochemicals use, which is in line with keeping their commercial objectives. Farmers who dealt with these processing firms often report more knowledge of possible risks and hazards connected to the poor use of agrochemicals (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e111\u003c/span\u003e). The information provided by agro-processing industries are closely related to the farmers’ opinion on agrochemicals danger of food safety concerns. For example, farmers who have access to reliable information sources are more likely to be knowledgeable of agrochemicals toxicity and its effects on human health (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e112\u003c/span\u003e). On the other hand, inaccurate information on safety use of agrochemicals may cause farmers to become complacent and implement insufficient safety measures compromising the entire food chain (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e113\u003c/span\u003e). The advantage pineapple farmers in the study perceive of the safe agrochemicals use promoted by agro-processors, is the impact of adherence to safety regulations. This include the possibility of lower input cost and higher yield (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e111\u003c/span\u003e). Hyde-cooper et al. (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e107\u003c/span\u003e) posited that these processing companies’ extension services can further promote adherence to safety procedures, which enhances farmers’ general agrochemicals techniques. The impact of the extension services provided by these processing firms may be responsible for the low rating of effectiveness of extension services provided by state agricultural extension agents as revealed by this study.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHowever, some studies have highlighted the impact of extension services provided by government extension agents on technology adoption (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e99\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e114\u003c/span\u003e–\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e116\u003c/span\u003e). Extension agents fill in farmers’ knowledge gaps by offering important agrochemicals safety training (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e55\u003c/span\u003e). For example, in Bihar, India, a notable deficiency in knowledge regarding prohibited agrochemicals and appropriate disposal techniques were found, underscoring the necessity of consistent extension agent engagement to enhance farmers’ comprehension of safe agrochemicals usage (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e114\u003c/span\u003e). It was discovered in Pakistan that farmers’ agrochemicals safety behaviour was positively impacted by more awareness about agrochemicals safety, through extremely important role of extension agents in disseminating this knowledge (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e99\u003c/span\u003e). Also, extension agents had a key role in improving Asahan Regency farmers’ capacity to handle pests, which in turn encouraged safer agrochemicals use by encouraging integrated pest management techniques (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e115\u003c/span\u003e). Therefore, to influence behaviour, extension agents play a critical role in fostering favourable attitudes regarding the safe use of agrochemicals, suggesting that extension agents can affect both knowledge and attitudes to encourage safer agrochemicals practices (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e99\u003c/span\u003e), an assertion which was not confirmed by this study. That notwithstanding, the socio-economic and educational obstacles that prevent the adoption of safe practices are addressed by extension agents (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e117\u003c/span\u003e). They also adjust their strategies to fit the various demands of farmers taking into account elements like experience and educational attainment, which are linked to improved agrochemicals safety procedures (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e118\u003c/span\u003e). The results of the study highlight the importance of harnessing multiple information sources by farmers in the study area. Some studies have revealed that, farmers who use a variety of information sources generally behave more safely. For example, in China, motivation to engage in safe agrochemicals use practices also involves exposing farmers to information about government policies and market information (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e111\u003c/span\u003e). Farmers in Greece showed better adherence to safety procedures when they used variety of information sources such as agricultural supply stores (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e53\u003c/span\u003e). While having access to a variety of reliable information sources is essential for encouraging the safe use of agrochemicals, the efficiency of these resources depends on farmers’ capacity to put their knowledge into practices (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e112\u003c/span\u003e). Agrochemicals use safety behaviour provided by processing firms and extensions agents in the study area could be extended to community based programmes which could improve the efficiency of these sources (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e108\u003c/span\u003e). These could help farmers adopt safer agrochemicals practices and provide wider access to information (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e114\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe results of this study confirmed that the extended TPB model is a valuable instrument for determining the psychological factors influencing safety behaviour towards agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions. The most significant predictor of farmers’ intention to adopt safe agrochemicals use was found to be their attitude while intention was the best predictor of safety behaviour. Farmers’ intention was not significantly influenced by their ability to engage in safety behaviour (perceived behavioural control), social pressure from friends, family, peers and extension agents as well as the effectiveness of extension training methods. Likewise, the non-significant impact of perceived behavioural control and effectiveness of extension training methods of safe agrochemicals use on safety behaviour among the pineapple farmers. As an extra construct to the TPB model, the non-significant influence of effectiveness of extension training methods on intention and behaviour needs to be conceptualized in relation to the effectiveness of the training on safe agrochemicals use promoted by the processing companies in the study area since more than half of the respondents, access training on safe agrochemicals use from these processing firms. In terms of limitations, it is important to consider the weakness of this study in order to better comprehend the key findings. Self-reporting responses were used in the study, which may have challenges with consistency, social biases and correlation with real behaviour. Again, since majority of the pineapple farmers obtained information on safe agrochemicals use from the agro-processing firms in the study area, further studies should focus on extension services quality provided by agro-processing companies in the pineapple value chain. Future studies could also look at the effect of the extension services quality on intention and safety behaviour towards safe agrochemicals use among pineapple farmers in the value chain. This study looked at how Ghanaian pineapple farmers ’agrochemicals safety practices are affected by agricultural extension services as the nation moves towards inclusive agroecological production systems. Extension services contribute to safer working conditions, less environmental contamination, and more sustainable agricultural production by enhancing farmers’ agrochemical handling knowledge and practices. The results show how extension services from processors can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of health, responsible production and environmental preservation.\u003c/p\u003e "},{"header":"Conclusion and implication for extension delivery","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe study provides significant evidence for policy makers and agricultural extension providers working the pineapple value chain in the Central and Eastern regions as well as the other pineapple growing regions in Ghana. The study offers insight into pineapple farmers’ behaviour regarding safe agrochemicals use and the drivers of safer agrochemicals use adoption. Given that attitude had a positive significant impact on intention, as well as positive influence of intention on safety behaviour, agricultural extension agents from the Departments of Agriculture and the Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture should initiate policies for the retraining of pineapple farmers in Ghana’s Central and Eastern regions. The training should incorporate extension techniques including group (FBO) meetings, workshops, farmer field schools, and results and method demonstrations to cultivate positive attitudes and ultimately intention and safety behaviour among the farmers regarding safe agrochemicals use. It is recommended that there should be a strong collaboration with agro-processing firms as key players in the value chain when planning such training programmes since most of the pineapple farmers access training from these firms. The findings of the study also point to the need for comprehensive pluralistic extension approach and strategy on agricultural information dissemination regarding the safe use agrochemicals among pineapple farmers.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgements: \u003c/strong\u003eThe farmers who provided data for the study and the enumerators who assisted with the data gathering process are both acknowledged by the authors.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor contributions: \u003c/strong\u003eConceptualisation: IKA, JKO, ETKA; and MOQ; Methodology: IKA, JKO, ETKA; and MOQ; Investigation: IKA, JKO, ETKA; MOQ; EOT, and DM; formal analysis: writing-original draft presentation: IKA, JKO, and ETKA; writing-review and editing: IKA, JKO, ETKA; and MOQ. All authors read and approved the final draft of manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding: \u003c/strong\u003eNo funding was received for conducting this study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eClinical trial number:\u003c/strong\u003e Not Applicable\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConflict of interest: \u003c/strong\u003eThe authors declare no potential conflict of interest. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eData availability statement: \u003c/strong\u003eThe data that support the findings of this study are openly available on the Mendeley Data and Digital Commons Data at http://doi.org/10.17632/c8t4hx3jf6.1 reference number [1]. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthical Approval and consent to participate:\u003c/strong\u003e The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines established in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and it subsequent amendments or similar guidelines and was authorised by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Education, Winneba (Approval No. SGS-049/EC/ Vol.3/16). Every participant farmer in the study gave their informed consent.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConsent to publish: \u003c/strong\u003eThe authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for the publication of the data used in this study. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConsent to participate\u003c/strong\u003e: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eORCID\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIsaac Kwasi Asante ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2838-5275 \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn Kwesi Ocran ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1133-5028\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEnoch Teye Kwao Ametepey ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0212-0693\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMichael Odenkey Quaye: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4366-4259\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEric Odum Tetteh ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8413-6058 \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDickson Mensah ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0371-6552 \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAli MM, Hashim N, Abd Aziz S, Lasekan O. 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BMC Public Health. 2024;24(3313):1\u0026ndash;12.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"discover-sustainability","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"disu","sideBox":"Learn more about [Discover Sustainability](https://www.springer.com/43621)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Discover Sustainability","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Discover Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Agrochemical safety behaviour, Agricultural extension, behavioural intention Inclusive agroecology, Pineapple farmers, Ghana, PLS-SEM, Theory of Planned Behaviour","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8949943/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8949943/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eGhana\u0026rsquo;s pineapple industry significantly contributes to national economic growth, but heightened agrochemical use poses a serious health and environmental risk. The study investigates the drivers of safe agrochemicals use behaviour among pineapple farmers in the Central and Eastern Regions of Ghana, with particular attention on how agricultural extension services shape this behaviour within the framework of inclusive agroecology. Using a multi-stage sampling technique, 301 farmers were surveyed via structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Key finding include: farmers\u0026rsquo; attitude explained 26% of the variance in intention to adopt safety behaviour while intention accounted for 21% of the variance in actual safety behaviour. Surprisingly, extension services showed no direct effect on intention and actual behaviour in the model. Most farmers (59.1%) accessed safety information via processing companies and extension agents. The mean farming experience was 11.16\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;8.20 years, and the average age was 42.52\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;15.02 years. Given these results, policymakers, especially the Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, should re-evaluate training programmes and collaborate more closely with processing firms to improve safety practices among pineapple farmers. The findings provide evidence on how extension systems can support progress towards Sustainable Development Goals related to health, responsible production, and ecosystem protection. The study highlights the need for revised extension approaches that more effectively translate knowledge and attitude into behaviour in agroecological transitions.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"The role of agricultural extension services in shaping agrochemicals safety behaviour among pineapple farmers in Ghana’s inclusive agroecology transition","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-24 13:36:04","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8949943/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-04-15T09:24:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-30T19:18:02+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-25T09:21:21+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"335268970046696919686967692516545649620","date":"2026-03-25T09:20:35+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"48516730046000515793612688870390632128","date":"2026-03-22T13:08:49+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"196870330656413498392262197213114408886","date":"2026-03-20T08:39:50+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-03-20T08:27:34+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2026-03-13T14:20:16+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-03-07T09:07:29+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-03-07T08:48:53+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Discover Sustainability","date":"2026-03-07T08:43:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"discover-sustainability","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"disu","sideBox":"Learn more about [Discover Sustainability](https://www.springer.com/43621)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Discover Sustainability","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Discover Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"83c0b02b-7595-43ee-9da9-c0125f15fadb","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 24th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-27T08:11:35+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-24 13:36:04","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8949943","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8949943","identity":"rs-8949943","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}