Summary
The study aims at viewing sustainability standards as package of practices that have to be met by farmers. It also uses choice experiment empirical analysis to understand farmer preferences for specific certification requirements and benefits. It is also one of the first quantitative studies with a gendered research design focussed on sustainability standards. The conclusion was that a differentiated approach to the scheme requirements may help as while some practices are found to be beneficial by farmers others are perceived to be negative. There is immense potential to incentivize farmers towards desired investments and the role of training is quite vital in awareness building.