Pesticides: What you don’t know can hurt you

Joseph Goeb; Andrew Dillon; Frank Lupi; David Tschirley

doi:10.1086/709782

Pesticides: What you don’t know can hurt you

Joseph Goeb, Andrew Dillon, Frank Lupi, David Tschirley

Kellogg Global Poverty Research Lab

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Agricultural intensification can negatively affect farmer and social welfare through health and environmental externalities if producers have imperfect knowledge of the risks posed by agricultural inputs. This paper explores the effects of health-risk information on the demand for substitutes in the pesticides market and farmer preferences for risk-mitigating technologies using a choice experiment integrated with a randomized controlled trial in Zambia. Environmental health-risk information provided through a farmer training program had an insignificant effect on demand for risk-mitigating personal protective equipment but a significant effect on demand for substitutes, lower toxicity pesticides. The treatment group was twice as likely to substitute a highly toxic pesticide with a low toxicity pesticide after receiving training. What farmers do not know can hurt them and the environment through lower demand for less risky and less damaging substitutes.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	801-836
Number of pages	36
Journal	Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
Volume	7
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/709782
State	Published - Sep 1 2020

Funding

Financial support for this research was provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Borlaug Fellows Program. We are grateful for collaboration and support from our field team in Zambia led by Remy Kasonteka, as well as support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock led by Diana Simbotwe. This research also benefited greatly from comments from Scott Swinton and feedback from the editor and anonymous reviewers. Tyler Box provided excellent research assistance. Michigan State University Institutional Review Board nos. x14-1080e, i047252.

Keywords

Becker-DeGroot-Marschak
Choice experiment
Exposure
Information
RCT
Toxicity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Economics and Econometrics
Nature and Landscape Conservation
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1086/709782

Cite this

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AU - Lupi, Frank

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AB - Agricultural intensification can negatively affect farmer and social welfare through health and environmental externalities if producers have imperfect knowledge of the risks posed by agricultural inputs. This paper explores the effects of health-risk information on the demand for substitutes in the pesticides market and farmer preferences for risk-mitigating technologies using a choice experiment integrated with a randomized controlled trial in Zambia. Environmental health-risk information provided through a farmer training program had an insignificant effect on demand for risk-mitigating personal protective equipment but a significant effect on demand for substitutes, lower toxicity pesticides. The treatment group was twice as likely to substitute a highly toxic pesticide with a low toxicity pesticide after receiving training. What farmers do not know can hurt them and the environment through lower demand for less risky and less damaging substitutes.

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Pesticides: What you don’t know can hurt you

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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