Understanding behavioral changes towards agroecological transitions: A case study from Mandla, India

Transforming agri-food systems towards sustainability and resilience is critical for addressing global challenges such as climate change, food insecurity, and environmental degradation. Achieving such transformations requires understanding how different actors exercise agency within the constraints and possibilities of their local environments. This thesis examines agroecological transition in Mandla District, Madhya Pradesh, India, a predominantly rainfed agricultural region characterized by rice-, wheat-, and pulse-based farming systems. Grounded in the Agency and Behavior Change (ACT) framework, the study investigates how individual and collective actors engage with emerging agroecological practices, including intercropping, reduced chemical input use, and soil and water conservation and how their actions are shaped by opportunity spaces created through interactions between structural subsystems. These subsystems include resource availability, governance arrangements, market dynamics, and social-relational networks. Particular attention is paid to collective initiatives such as women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Community Nutrition Gardens (CNGs), and Community Resource Person (CRP) networks. The research adopts a qualitative case study design, drawing on 23 semi-structured interviews, four focus group discussions, and participant observation conducted between November 2024 and February 2025. Data were analyzed using an iterative inductive-deductive approach, combining thematic coding with systematic interpretation through the ACT framework and insights from a Vision-to-Action (V2A) multi-stakeholder process. Findings reveal that agroecological transition in Mandla is not constrained by a lack of motivation or awareness. Environmental concerns, health considerations, and aspirations for family and community well-being strongly motivate engagement across actor groups. However, sustained adoption is limited by structural constraints, particularly water scarcity, delayed wage payments, weak market differentiation for agroecological produce, fragmented governance, and misaligned extension services. The study demonstrates that while individual actors can implement certain practices independently, many critical constraints such as water management, market access, and institutional coordination, require collective action and multi-actor collaboration. The thesis contributes empirically by showing that agroecological transition is fundamentally a coordination challenge rather than a farmer adoption problem. Conceptually, it advances understanding of agency as a situated and relational process shaped by structural opportunity spaces. The findings highlight the importance of participatory and inclusive interventions that align behavioral drivers with systemic transformation pathways in agroecology.