Management of Leaf Rust Disease by Household Coffee Farmers in India: Evidence and Implications for Price and Income Effects on Chemical Control

Abstract

Coffee leaf rust (CLR) is a major disease that affects the production of Arabica coffee. Its management for coffee plant protection is economically costly because it depends on purchase of market-priced inputs and output from coffee cultivation. This paper focuses on estimation of price and income determinants of management of CLR, as they are related to the application of chemical control or fungicides (Bordeaux mixture and systemic fungicides), by using a newly collected sample household survey data on 575 (comprising 90 % of small) Arabica coffee farmers in traditional coffee-growing regions of India and by applying binary logit models. Estimates show that the own-price elasticity of probability is negative and stronger than positive income effects by chemical control. Cross-price effect shows that the systemic fungicides are a substitute for Bordeaux mixture and probability of applying Bordeaux mixture is higher as compared to the systemic fungicides. Surprisingly, a decline in relative price of Bordeaux mixture shows complementarity between the fungicides. These results offer empirical explanation for economic relationships between fungicides in terms of complementarity and substitutability under different price situations and imply a need for public policy for promotion of recommended chemical control through selective subsidization for chemical inputs for small coffee farmers. These interdisciplinary results and implications are relevant for other Arabica coffee-growing Asian and African countries.