Examining Farmers’ Willingness to Learn Environmental Conservation Agriculture: Implications for Women Farmer Empowerment in Bagmati Province, Nepal

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is a large-scale analytical study examining the impact of various factors on Nepali farmers' willingness to learn and adopt environmentally-oriented agriculture (ECA). The study is based on a survey of 383 farmers, making it representative, and the identified barriers are significant for understanding the challenges of ECA implementation. However, the analysis of the presented factors should be expanded to cover a wider range of obstacles and motivators. The authors are recomended to more clearly define the mechanisims for implementing the proposed solutions. In particular, it is important to specify what steps can be taken at the level of the state, international organizations, and the private sector to effectively implement ECA. It is also worth examining in more detail how to overcome gender barriers to strengthen the role of women in agriculture and expand their access to resources, training, and decision-making. Moreover, the study lacks a clear scientific novelty. The authors should clariffy what contribution their work makes to the development of agrarian science and more clearly outline the causal relationships between the identified barriers and proposed solutions. It is also necessary to explain how the study's findings can contribute to the sustainable development of agriculture in the region. A deeper analysis of these aspects will enhance the practical value of the work and make it more relevant for the scientific community and policymakers.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you for your constructive comments. We have replied to your comments in the attached file. We have incorporated your valuable comments in the manuscript, where applicable shown in red and blue.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors,

I am sending several ideas and comments regarding Your article:

1. The authors are commended for examining the extremely pressing problems of Nepal's agriculture - the impact of intensive agriculture on the degradation of soil and other natural resources, climate change due to improper tillage and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as the demographic problems of rural areas due to the economic migration of men from rural to urban areas. The study aims to find solutions to these problems both by reducing the pressure of agriculture on the environment and by finding additional income opportunities by producing more environmentally friendly products.
2. I disagree that Environmental Conservation Agriculture seeks to increase agricultural productivity, as stated in paragraph 2 of the introduction.
3. When examining factors influencing farmers' willingness to learn about ECA (subsection 1.3), attention was not paid to the European Union Common Agricultural Policy implementation experience, where support measures to organize training and improve farmers' skills have been implemented for many years.
4. In the results part (section 3), a lot of important research data (including ECA-related data) are presented in the text. It would be much more visually appealing to present them in figures and tables.
5. The representation of the response structure in Figures 2-4 is incorrect. It is not clear why a positive and negative scale is needed, what does it provide?
6. It is commendable that the conclusions section presents not only the most important research results, but also implications for the formulation of policy measures. However, the proposals presented are too abstract, and the conclusions themselves sometimes repeat information presented in the text.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you for your constructive comments. We have replied to your comments in the attached file. We have incorporated your valuable comments in the manuscript, where applicable shown in red and blue.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper ‘Examining Farmers’ Willingness to Learn Environmental Conservation Agriculture: Implications for Women Farmer Empowerment in Bagmati Province, Nepal' addresses an interesting research topic. The authors highlighted the issue of environmental conservation challenges in agriculture. For the purpose of the research, the authors explored the theme of environmental openness and willingness of farmers in Nepal to learn in this area.  For the purpose of the study, the authors used qualitative and quantitative methods. This is a very interesting theme, worthy of scholarly recognition.
The abstract of the paper indicates the aim and scope of the research, and the research gap addressed by the paper is also discussed at length. In addition, the methodology and key research findings are indicated.  The only comment in this regard concerns the research findings - they could be shortened somewhat and limited to the most relevant findings. I leave this remark to the authors' discretion. Otherwise, the abstract is correct - no comments.

The introduction presents the background to the research, underpinning the rationale for the authors' research in the adopted scope. It points out the layout of environmental challenges in agriculture and the need for awareness raising among farmers. The introduction is conducted very broadly - with reference to the situation of agriculture in Nepal, aspects of sustainable development, demographic and migration changes, and insights from other studies. The introduction exhausts the discussion of the research background with reference to the literature - I do not report observations.
Part 2 ‘Study Area and Methods’ should be divided into thematic threads related to the presentation of the study area and separately the research methodology. The section presenting the study area exhaustive. The section on methodology is worth strengthening with a research model presenting the different steps of the research, correlated with the methods used. This is about correlating research steps and methods. More attention should also be given to discussing the mode of data acquisition in the methodology section. I believe that the paper should be improved in this area. 

Section 3 ‘Results’ presents the findings of the study of socio-demographic, economic and environmental factors influencing farmers' willingness to study ECA. In addition, the relationship of the above to the phenomenon of women's emancipation was explored. The results of the study are presented clearly. The discussion is thorough and the key findings are visualised to facilitate analysis. 
In my opinion, the discussion of the presentation of the results under tables 3 and 4 - line 634 - should be completed. Other than that, I do not make any additional observations.
In the discussion section it is worth strengthening the reference to the literature. In addition, the implications are worth strengthening.
The summary is correct, but the significance (theoretical and practical) of the authors' findings is worth strengthening. 
Literature well selected but very narrow. I think its scope should be expanded.
In conclusion, this is an original paper, it needs refinement in the comments indicated above. Among other things, part 2 should be improved in terms of discussion of methodology, in the ‘results’ section appropriate additions should be made according to the comments made in the review. In addition, the literature should be strengthened.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you for your constructive comments. We have replied to your comments in the attached file. We have incorporated your valuable comments in the manuscript, where applicable shown in red and blue.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf