The study examined the influence environmental standards set by the SME agro-based processing firms on poverty eradication among small scale farmers and the moderating roles of farmers’ environmental empowerment and practice adoption on the environmental standards-poverty reduction relationship.
Data was collected from purchasing managers of the agro-based processing firms. Both SPSS and CB-SEM software were used for data analysis. SPSS software was used to obtain results on the influence environmental standards set by the SME agro-based processing firms on poverty eradication; the moderating role of farmers’ environmental empowerment on the environmental standards-poverty eradication relationship and the moderating role of practice adoption on the environmental standards-poverty reduction relationship.
Findings indicated that SME agro-processing environmental standards positively influenced poverty eradication among small scale farmers and farmers’ adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices and farmers’ environmental empowerment moderated the environmental standards-poverty eradication relationship.
The influence of SME agro-based processing firm environmental standards on poverty eradication among small scale farmers; the moderating roles of farmers’ environmental empowerment and adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices on the environmental standards-poverty eradication relationship are aspects that have not been given significant attention.
The study was mainly focused on SME agro processing firms and small scale farmers. The research has implications to decision makers in government concerned with enhancing environmentally friendly practices among farmers in general.
