Bio-based and Applied Economics BAE Copyright: © 2023 L. Arata, D. Menozzi. Open access, article published by Firenze University Press under CC-BY-4.0 License. Firenze University Press | www.fupress.com/bae Bio-based and Applied Economics 12(1): 3-4, 2023 | e-ISSN 2280-6e172 | DOI: 10.36253/14720 Editorial Farmers’ motivations and behaviour regarding the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices and activities Linda Arata1, Davide Menozzi2 1 Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Department of Agricultural and Food Economics. 2 University of Parma, Department of Food and Drug. The IX EAAE PhD workshop took place on June 22-24, 2022, in Parma (Italy). A number of 126 PhD students from 72 European and non-European univer- sities gathered together to attend keynote speeches, pre- sent their research and get feedback on that, informally talk and share research experiences and opinions, enjoy free time events. Talking with some of these students afterwards, you could realise how well-organised, fruit- ful and inspiring the three-day workshop was. For most of them, it was the first opportunity to present their work, share research challenges, and receive feedback from peers and senior economists in a conference set- ting. Once the PhD workshop was over, the participants were invited to submit their presented papers to BAE Bio-based and Applied Economics. The received origi- nal manuscripts underwent a double-blind peer-review process and five of them are finally part of this Special Issue. All of these five studies use primary data and ana- lyse farmers behaviour. Four of them are focused on African countries. The studies report interesting insights into the analysis of farmers’ aspirations (Deißler et al., 2023), of the factors affecting the adoption of strategies for adapting to climate change (Onyenekwe et al., 2023), of diversifying in off-farm activities (Ceriani et al., 2023), of improving economic, social and environmental sustainability with livelihood strategies (Prazeres, 2023) and agroforestry practices (Seegers et al., 2023). The paper of Ceriani et al. (2023) entitled “How do farmers’ pluriactivity project evolve?” investigates the motivations that lead farmers to diversify their income through off-farm activities, the barriers to diversifica- tion, and the management strategies for a long-lasting choice. The data were collected in Northern France through farmers interviews, and the results show that the balance between agricultural and off-farm activi- ties changes over time depending on family context, job opportunities and financial situation. The maintenance over time of the off-farm job is favoured by the flexibility of both on-farm and off-farm activities to adjust to each other and by the possibility of hiring labour on the farm. The paper “Heterogeneity of adaptation strategies to climate shocks: Evidence from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria” authored by Onyenekwe et al. (2023) analyses the adaptation strategies to climate shocks uptaken by farmers and fishermen in the Niger delta region (Nigeria) and the main factors driving their adoption. The econo- metric analysis of the data collected from more than 500 interviewed farmers and fishermen shows that livelihood diversification, crop management, soil and water man- agement strategies are the solutions mostly adopted. Fish- ermen use mainly livelihood diversification as an adap- tation option. The study finds that household size and education are the main determinants of adoption, inde- pendent of the practices being adopted, while the factors discouraging the adoption are practice-specific. The study by Prazeres (2023) entitled “Organic cocoa farmer’s strategies and sustainability” investigates the social, economic and agro-ecological factors affect- ing the choice of livelihood strategies by organic cocoa producers in São Tomé and Príncipe. The study collect- ed data through a survey administered to 810 farmers belonging to organic cocoa cooperatives and finds that education level, perception of social class, insurances, loans and access to services are the main determinants of livelihood strategies. The paper authored by Deißler et al. (2023) entitled “A complex web of interactions: Personality traits and aspirations in the context of smallholder agriculture” http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode 4 Bio-based and Applied Economics 12(1): 3-4, 2023 | e-ISSN 2280-6172 | DOI: Linda Arata, Davide Menozzi assesses whether personality traits contribute to shap- ing the individual aspirations of smallholder farmers, and how aspirations are connected with their socio- demographic characteristics. The statistical analysis of data collected from 272 smallholder farming households in Kenya, shows that openness, conscientiousness and extraversion affect aspirations, which are additionally influenced by extrinsic factors. The study concludes that analysing aspirations when evaluating development pro- jects and policy is important for an effective outcome of the intervention. In their work “Exploring the effectiveness of seri- ous games in strengthening smallholders’ motivation to plant different trees on farms: Evidence from rural Rwanda” Seegers et al. (2023) use a role-play game to raise farmers’ awareness towards agroforestry adoption. The study involves 72 small-scale farmers from Rwanda and interviews them before and after the game. Results show the effectiveness of the game to increase the knowledge of the benefits of planting different tree spe- cies on the farm as well as the motivation to take that action. Overall, the studies included in the Special Issue provide new insights into farmers’ behaviour analysis, in particular from developing countries. The authors emphasised relevant insights for policy-makers and researchers on the factors able to affect the adoption of strategies for improving the economic, social and envi- ronmental sustainability of farming activities. REFERENCES Ceriani, C., Djouak, A., & Chaillard, M. (2023). How do farmers’ pluriactivity project evolve?.  Bio-Based and Applied Economics, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.36253/ bae-13424 Deißler, L., Mausch, K., Karanja, A., McMullin, S., & Grote, U. (2023). A complex web of interactions: Per- sonality traits and aspirations in the context of small- holder agriculture. Bio-Based and Applied Economics, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.36253/bae-13475 Onyenekwe, C. S., Sarpong, D. B., Egyir, I. S., Opata, P. I., & Ume, C. (2023). Heterogeneity of adaptation strategies to climate shocks: Evidence from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.  Bio-Based and Applied Eco- nomics, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.36253/bae-13436 Prazeres, I., Lucas, M. R., Marta-Costa, A., & Henriques, P. D. (2023). Organic Cocoa in Sao Tome and Princ- ipe- How Producers Perceive Sustainability and Elect Livelihood Strategies. Bio-Based and Applied Econom- ics, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.36253/bae-13473 Seegers, R., Winter, E., & Ulrike, G. (2023). Exploring the Effectiveness of Serious Games in Strengthening Smallholders’ Motivation to Plant Different Trees on Farms: Evidence from Rural Rwanda. Bio-Based and Applied Economics, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.36253/ bae-13479 Farmers’ motivations and behaviour regarding the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices and activities Linda Arata1, Davide Menozzi2 How do farmers’ pluriactivity projects evolve? How do farmers’ pluriactivity project evolve? Clarisse Ceriani*, Amar Djouak, Marine Chaillard Heterogeneity of adaptation strategies to climate shocks: Evidence from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria Chinasa Sylvia Onyenekwe1, Patience Ifeyinwa Opata1, Chukwuma Otum Ume1,*, Daniel Bruce Sarpong2, Irene Susana Egyir2 Organic cocoa farmer’s strategies and sustainability Ibrahim Prazeres1,*, Maria Raquel Lucas1, Ana Marta-Costa2, Pedro Damião Henriques3 A complex web of interactions: Personality traits and aspirations in the context of smallholder agriculture Luzia Deißler1,*, Kai Mausch2, Alice Karanja3, Stepha McMullin3, Ulrike Grote1 Exploring the effectiveness of serious games in strengthening smallholders’ motivation to plant different trees on farms: evidence from rural Rwanda Ronja Seegers*, Etti Winter, Ulrike Grote