Recent information released through the mass media related to contamination of imported milk powder with hazardous components has made a considerable effect on the preference of milk powder brands among the consumers in Sri Lanka. This study was focused to investigate: (1) the factors influencing consumer brand preference for local and imported milk powder brands, (2) whether these identified factors have significant influences on consumer preference in milk powder brands. A questionnaire survey was conducted by means of face to face interview to gather primary data from a sample of 250 respondents covering five Divisional Secretariats in Kegalle District. Data were analyzed by using confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS in SPSS. The study shows that trust on the brand, product factors and brand loyalty are the main factors that significant and highly influence consumer brand preference for a particular milk powder brand. Findings of this study are important to milk brand producers, investors, policymakers, marketers, relevant enterprises and government to implement necessary product improvements and quality enhancement in the milk powder industry.

Amidst a significant uptick in organic product consumption driving the growth of organic agriculture, formulating policies to promote this method necessitates a thorough grasp of the factors influencing farmers' decisions to embrace organic cultivation. This study aims to investigate the determinants of farmers' choices to shift toward green agriculture. A sample of 150 rural paddy farmers was selected from Puttalam district using a multistage sampling technique, and data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Seven key determinants have been discerned as critical contributors to this paradigm shift, such as Health Enhancement, Environmental Protection, Attitude, Economic Profitability, Knowledge of organic farming, Perceived Risk, and Government Support. In light of this, a conceptual model with seventeen hypotheses was created. Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) to identify the direct, indirect, and mediating effects among the relevant variables. The estimated model revealed strong direct effects of economic profitability and perceived risk on organic farming adoption behavior, while government support had an indirect effect. Moreover, health enhancement demonstrated a significant direct effect on attitude, and knowledge emerged as a strong predictor with both significant direct and indirect effects on the dependent variable. The hypotheses concerning mediated pathways were also supported with partial and full mediators. These findings provide crucial insights for policymakers, guiding the development of appropriate policies and the implementation of sustainable organic farming practices among paddy farmers.

Globally, there is an increasing regional economic development disparity. The region’s growth depends on strong economic development. The sustainable development of Sri Lanka could be harmed by the regional economic disparity. An essential consideration in the establishment of regional development policies is the identification and magnitude of regional economic disparities. This study looks at the current state of Sri Lanka’s regional economic development disparity. This study’s methodology in this regard involved using several economic development metrics. Data for the year 2019 was acquired through authoritative sources. The multivariate analysis technique using the principal component analysis (PCA) approach has been adopted, which assigns a weight to each dimension and indicator to create composite indexes. The economic development of the western province was higher than that of the other provinces, but there was also a notable disparity between the districts of the western province, with the Colombo district having the highest economic development index. The resulting indices enable policymakers to prioritize regions for additional efforts while also assessing the state of regional disparities. The new index also makes it feasible to classify local government entities logically to support the government’s numerous policy-making and development initiatives. To calculate an index of economic disparity similar to that, the approach would apply to any nation.

With the development of technology, most people got the chance to engage in digital marketing activities. Online shopping is a trending facility that improves day by day and social media advertisements play a major role in customers’ online purchase intention. The purpose of this study was to observe how the features of social media advertisements affect the online purchase intention of customers in Sri Lanka when purchasing products including agricultural products. The social media advertisement features that affect online purchase intention (creativity, customer feedback, entertainment and information in advertisements) were considered in this study. A google form questionnaire was used to gather data and 312 responses were collected. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling were used for the data analysis. After analyzing the gathered data, it was found that informative advertisements and creative advertisements on social media platforms have a direct impact on online purchasing intention. Also, the results indicated that customer feedback affects purchase intention through information. Entertaining online advertisements have an impact on purchase intention through their creativity. This study focused on only four features in social media advertisements. Therefore, future researchers should address the other advertisement features as well. The findings of this research can be used to make advertisements more useful and profitable for advertisers as well as sellers.