Abstract
Abstract Adoption of nutri-cereals, often termed as “superfoods,” has emerged as a strategic solution to address nutritional deficiencies and promote sustainable agricultural development. However, farmers’ behavioural intentions significantly influence the adoption and sustained cultivation of these crops. This research focuses on constructing a comprehensive Behavioural Intention Index (BII) for nutri-cereal growers. Composite indices are gaining prominence across various fields and disciplines as an effective method to synthesize diverse information into a compact, singular, and meaningful representation. Composite indices are designed to guide the selection and integration of individual components into a cohesive measure, adhering to the principle of fitness-for-purpose. A “Behavioural Intention Index” was developed to assess the commercial viability of cultivating nutri-cereals, using an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 26). The initial step involved sending the proposed items for a relevancy test, followed by administering the finalized questionnaire to 60 growers in a non-sampling area. Reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha. The study concluded with a validated tool comprising 49 items in total of 9 components was extracted and given weightage using PCA under three dimensions. The Min-Max method was used for normalization, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed to assign weightage to each indicator. Finally, linear aggregation was employed to calculate the overall index value for the region which was 0.53 across four districts of Uttarakhand.