Analyzing farmers behavior through development and validation of the agri–nutri (A2N) attitude scale: Evidence from Telangana and Uttar Pradesh

Nutrition sensitive agriculture is a practical choice to achieve optimal production and profitability within limited resources, with prevalence of homestead farming among marginal farmers. In this context understanding farmers’ attitudes towards nutrition through agriculture helps policy makers to formulate better strategies for appropriate decision making. An individual’s behaviour is shaped by their attitude, which represents their predisposition to respond in particular ways. The key objective of the current study is to construct a reliable and valid Agri-Nutri (A2N) attitude scale for farmers based on psychometric principles. The scale employed five-point continuum of summated rating method for attitude measurement. Initially a total of 55 items were generated and sent for expert judgment and based on relevancy weight few items were eliminated and reworded. 43 items were pretested on 60 non-sample and t values were calculated. 19 statements with t values of > 1.75 were finally selected. The final scale was administered on 360 farmers from model and non-model villages of Telangana and Uttar Pradesh based on project interventions. The results revealed that majority of farmers in Telangana (58.3%) and Uttar Pradesh (53.3%) were in moderately favourable attitude category. The respondents from model villages of Uttar Pradesh and Telangana performed well than non-model villages. There is generally lower satisfaction with nutrition-sensitive capacity building programs in both model and non-model villages.