Factors affecting farmers’ adoption of integrated pest management in Serbia: An application of the theory of planned behavior

Abstract

Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia as European Union candidate countries, have to follow EU directives that include the adoption of several agri-environmental measures for promoting cleaner agricultural practices among farmers in the years to come. This paper aims to identify the main determinants of farmers' behavioral change towards more environmentally friendly agricultural practices in Serbia. In particular, farmers' intentions to adopt integrated pest management practices have been analyzed. Integrated pest management is a farming management approach which aims to reduce pest population in a cost-effective and environmental manner. To this aim, within a mixed-method research design framework, observational data from 400 farmers have been collected through a structured questionnaire. Theory of Planned Behavior provides conceptual as well as empirical framework for the analysis. The findings provided by structural equation modeling show that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, together with farm size, explain 49% of farmers’ intentions to adopt integrated pest management practices. On the other side, farmers environmental knowledge, education level and the use of extension services do not play a significant role in integrated pest management adoption. Even if the use of a convenience sample limits the generalization of the results to the whole population, findings provide useful information and empirical insights into the development of public policies in Serbia and other Western Balkan countries. The identification of proper incentives as well are needed to enhance the adoption of more environmentally friendly agricultural practices amongst farmers, reducing the environmental impact of agriculture.