Do Chinese Farmers Misuse Pesticide Intentionally or Not?

Li Zhao, Changwei Wang (), Haiying Gu and Chengyan Yue
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Li Zhao: College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Maritime University, Pudong District, Shanghai 201306, China
Changwei Wang: Institute of Finance and Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Yangpu District, Shanghai 200433, China
Haiying Gu: Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200030, China
Chengyan Yue: Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: Nonstandard pesticide-application behavior leads to excessive pesticide residue and even affects the quality and safety of agricultural products and agricultural sustainability. Based on 968 valid samples randomly selected in Jiangsu Province of China, it focuses on the impact of incident shock and yield fluctuation avoidance on the pesticide-application behavior of farmers. Then, it investigated the impact of intentional factors, such as insufficient cognition and lack of knowledge, on their improper pesticide-application behavior. This study shows that, besides the pursuit of improper income, inadequate awareness and preventive actions to avoid operational risks are also important factors in farmers’ nonstandard pesticide application. In addition, the study also shows that farmers who understand the responsibility unit of agricultural product quality and safety supervision are more inclined to choose standardized application of pesticides. The higher the education level of farmers, the higher the probability of standardized application of pesticides. Therefore, farmers’ nonstandard pesticide-application behavior is largely due to the farmers’ insufficient awareness of the harm of pesticide residues or the lack of trust in the efficacy of pesticides. Moreover, the study also shows that adverse selection phenomenon exists in pesticide-application training.

Keywords: quality and safety; pesticide application; risk aversion; incidents shock (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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