The Influence of Regional Specialization in Agriculture on Farmers’ Pest Control Behaviors Based on a Dual Examination of Control Strategies and Control Costs

Xin Tan and Guanghua Lin ()
Additional contact information
Xin Tan: College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Guanghua Lin: College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: The pest control behaviors of agricultural producers are crucial not only for effectively managing pests and diseases but also for ensuring the sustainable development of agricultural production and the environment. Regional specialization in agriculture, as a typical method to optimize planting structure, influences farmers’ control behaviors through dual mechanisms. However, existing research has largely overlooked this issue. This paper systematically examines the influence and mechanisms of agricultural regional specialization on farmers’ pest control strategies and costs. Using village tracking research data and farmer data from the Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Jilin provinces of China over 15 years, the study employs fixed-effects models and the instrumental variable method to provide empirical evidence. The research results indicate that by reducing biological diversity, which exacerbates the occurrence and damage of pests and diseases, and increasing the homogeneity of planting structures, the development of regional specialization in agriculture prompts farmers to shift their control strategy from “ex post treatment” to “ex ante prevention” and has increased the control costs. The policy implication is that farmers should be encouraged to practice moderate crop rotation in rapidly increasing regional specialization. Additionally, strengthening real-time monitoring of pest and disease dynamics is essential to guide farmers in early prevention and timely control.

Keywords: regional specialization in agriculture; pests and diseases; control behaviors of farmers; control strategy; control cost (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: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/2045/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/2045/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:11:p:2045-:d:1520228

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().