Impact of operation scale and labor costs on pesticide use intensity of fruit farmers: evidence from peach farmers in China

Abstract

The impact of the operation scale on the pesticide use intensity of farmers may be related to different crop types and production factors constraints over different operation scales. This study uses the survey data of 522 peach farmers in China in 2018 to investigate the impact of the operation scale on pesticide use intensity and discusses the influence of labor costs constraint on the pesticide use intensity of different operation scales of cash crop. Empirical analysis results reveal that the operation scale shows a U-shaped relationship with pesticide use intensity; as the labor costs of pesticide use increases, the pesticide use intensity decreases. After classifying peach farmers into large-scale and small-scale farmers, significant differences were found between them. Large-scale farmers are more inclined to use pesticides scientifically because of the dual constraints of pesticide costs and labor costs, while small-scale farmers are more inclined to overuse pesticides because of a lower constraint of labor costs. Further, as labor costs of pesticide use rise, the negative influence of scale expansion on pesticide use intensity decreases. Therefore, the formulation and implementation of relevant policies need to distinguish different crop types and different operation scales and need to understand the actual needs and constraints of farmers, so as to truly reduce pesticide use intensity and increase pesticide use efficiency.