This study investigates the impact of cooperative membership on the adoption of environmentally friendly practices (EFPs) among smallholder tea farmers in Sri Lanka, a leading high-value crop sector undergoing a sustainability transition.
The analysis is based on survey data from 745 tea-farming households collected from Sri Lanka. A Conditional Mixed Process approach is employed to address the endogeneity issue. We further examine the heterogeneous effects across income levels.
The results indicate that cooperative membership has a significant impact on the adoption of EFPs and the number of EFPs adopted. Specifically, cooperative membership has a positive influence on the adoption of crop diversification, mulching, and water management, with the most significant effects observed among low-income farmers. It also significantly increases the number of EFPs adopted; meanwhile, mechanism analysis further reveals that price satisfaction partially mediates this relationship.
Policies should promote inclusive cooperative participation, especially for resource-constrained farmers, while strengthening the capacity of cooperatives to provide credit and technical support. In addition, fostering knowledge-sharing within cooperatives can institutionalize learning and accelerate Sri Lanka's transition toward sustainable tea production.
This study provides new micro-level evidence on how cooperative membership promotes environmentally friendly tea production in Sri Lanka, jointly examining the adoption of EFPs and the number of EFPs adopted.
