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Article History

Received: 15 March 2025

Accepted: 10 February 2026

First Online: 23 March 2026

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: All research was conducted in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations applicable to studies involving human participants. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Ethical Committee for Human Studies, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India, under approval number VIT/IECH/2025/16 IECH/8 February 2025/30, granted on March 3, 2025, for one year. The committee members included Dr. S. Sivakumar, Dr. Pragasam Viswanathan, Dr. Rajesh N. G., Dr. C. P. Girish Kumar, Dr. Kalaiselvi, Dr. S. Sreeja, Dr. N. Aravind Yuvaraj, Dr. Prasanna Samuel, Dr. Nagaraju Gundemeda, Dr. Venkatesan Kuppusamy, and Mr. M. R. Ravishankar. The study was independently reviewed by the ethics committee and deemed to have scientific and social value while minimizing risks to participants. The scope of approval includes collecting quantitative and qualitative data from consent-informed respondents, conducting statistical and thematic analysis based on the self-collected data, and sharing results with the public without releasing respondents’ personal information.

: Informed consent was obtained through signed consent forms from all respondents after providing detailed information about the study’s objectives, risks, and benefits in the Tamil language. The respondents included are the members of Farmers’ Producer Companies, Farmers’ Producer Organizations, and key informant farmers. Mr. Atsu Ihou conducted focus group discussions and key informant interviews in March 2025. The consent covered respondents’ willingness, data use, and publication. Since this study did not involve interventions and relied on surveys and questionnaires, respondents were assured of their anonymity, the research purpose, and potential risks. No vulnerable individuals, such as minors, patients, or refugees, were involved.