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The goal of this study was to assess changes in eating self-efficacy after participating in a brief psychoeducational group intervention, grounded in the cognitive-behavioral model, delivered by dieticians in community-based health facilities.

The study was conducted using a quasi-experimental, pre-post design. A total of 110 program participants took part in the study. They were asked to complete the Eating Self-Efficacy Scale before the start of the intervention, at the end of the intervention, and three months after the intervention ended. Data were analyzed using the Linear Mixed Model.

Participants’ personal sense of control over their eating behaviors significantly increased after they completed the program and continued to increase up to the three-month follow-up. The effect of the intervention remained significant after controlling for differences in age and whether participants had access to other forms of individual support or completed the follow-up during the COVID-19 general lockdown.

By promoting participants’ sense of eating self-efficacy, this intervention could lead to positive dietary changes, which in turn could promote better health and healthy aging.

This community intervention is readily accessible and represents a cost-effective approach to promote healthy eating, reducing the risk of chronic disease and the need for medical care, thereby cutting costs for the healthcare system.

(1) This study addresses a gap in the scientific literature as there was limited published research to date that investigated this intervention. (2) The three-month follow-up made it possible to evaluate whether changes in eating self-efficacy were maintained over time. (3) Potential confounding variables, including age, having access to other forms of individual support and the COVID-19 general lockdown, were taken into account.

This paper aims to examine the performance of marginalized farmers in supply relationships with agri-tech firms in emerging rural agricultural economies. The complex relationship among the suppliers, dual relationship and knowledge transfer (KT) was studied. This paper empirically investigates the relationship between KT and supplier’s performance improvement (SPI) via buyer–supplier relationship (BSR).

Grounded on agency theory, a conceptual framework has been proposed to identify the mediation effect of BSR. The context deals with suppliers who are farmers in developing nations. The hypotheses were tested using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation with a sample of 121 marginalized farmers from Indian states. The data was collected using a survey instrument designed by adapting the well-cited and validated measures. These marginalized farmers worked in collaboration with the agri-tech firms facilitating them with the KT.

The relationships established from the results also indicate the fact that KT is a powerful tool to make connections with farmers that lead to their performance improvement. The KT was found as a driver to improve performance (SPI) and the BSR acted as a positive mediator in this study. The complex relationships among the KT, BSR and SPI hold.

This paper can be subscribed to various nuanced understandings of the agricultural supply chain context in emerging economies, in the specialized cases where farmers belong to the marginalized communities. This study has the scope to replicate using a mixed-method approach in emerging economies beyond India. It also advances the agency theory literature in the supply chain discipline of emerging rural economies.

This study offers strategic implications for agri-tech practitioners, policymakers and academic debate. The marginalized farmers with KT and improved BSR can become a part of the mainstream value chain, their debts can be reduced, suicides can be prevented and the quality of their family life can be significantly improved.

This study makes a unique contribution by investigating how the agri-tech firms (non-traditional buyer) and supplier relationship and KT helps improve the economic sustainability of smallholder farmers in India. The authors immersed themselves in fieldwork by interacting and meeting in person with 121 farmers residing in the remotest of the remote rural areas across multiple states of India. This resulted in the collection of authentic data and capturing the ground realities from one of the fastest-growing and largest emerging economies.