Toward sustainable farming: the roles of information literacy and training in shaping green production practices among rice farmers in China—a mixed-methods study

Green production practices are important for improving the sustainability of smallholder farming systems, yet less is known about how information literacy, ecological cognition, and training jointly shape their adoption. This study examines the effects of these factors on the adoption of green production practices among rice farmers. Survey data were collected from 594 farmers in Jiangxi Province, China, and analyzed using binary logistic regression and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results show that information acquisition and information cognition are positively associated with the adoption of green production practices, and that these effects are mediated, to a large extent, by ecological cognition. Training plays a dual role: it strengthens the effect of ecological cognition on adoption while attenuating the direct effects of some dimensions of information literacy. The fsQCA results identify two pathways leading to high adoption, both of which include training as a core condition. One pathway combines training with strong ecological cognition, whereas the other shows that structured training and information cognition can promote adoption even when analytical ability is limited. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of training in supporting farmers’ adoption of green production practices. Policies and extension programs should therefore integrate training with measures that strengthen farmers’ information literacy and ecological awareness to promote sustainable rice production.