Environmental sustainability performance and readiness of farmers to adopt and adapt sustainable and smart farming practices in harumanis mango production

Malaysia's state of Perlis is popular for its Harumanis mango production, primarily produced over the years due to its impeccable flavour and sweetness. Regardless of their popularity and demand among consumers, the unstable yield of Harumanis mangoes constitutes significant challenges for farmers. The unstable production of Harumanis mango brings negative consequences on both livelihoods and market availability. To address this, sustainable smart agriculture farming is vital to ensure that the soil and Harumanis mango farming both receive the nutrients they require to be in peak health and production. The objectives of this research are to determine the environmental sustainability of the performance of Harumanis mango production in Perlis and to investigate the readiness of farmers, issues, and challenges in the implementation of sustainable smart farming. This study conducted a content analysis of in-depth interviews with a Harumanis mango farmer and a researcher who is an expert in Harumanis mango production. By examining the issues and probable challenges that farmers may encounter, the Theory of The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was developed, focusing on attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. Our results reveal that the production of Harumanis mango is volatile, and the exact causes are inconclusive. Furthermore, the research highlights that the farmers are not adequately prepared to adopt and adapt sustainable and smart farming practices suggesting potential challenges in their future implementation. To ensure the long-term sustainability of Harumanis mango production these challenges need to be tackled cooperatively.