Abstract
The main objective of this study is to examine how market returns and external pressure influence farmers’ standardized pesticide application and to investigate the moderating role of information acquisition. Data were collected from 986 farmers following a multi-stage sampling method from five major agricultural provinces in China. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to test the hypothesis. The results show that market returns and information acquisition of pesticide application had a significant and positive influence on standardized pesticide application. Also, interaction effects were found between acquisition of policy information and market returns, and also between acquisition of pesticide application information and external pressure. The policy implication is that the improvement of market returns of safe agricultural products is a potential way to improve farmers’ pesticide usage behaviors. Policy information and pesticide application information should be widely provided to farmers in order to facilitate the transition to standardized pesticide application.
Highlights
Agricultural production involves numerous links including, but not limited to, seed screening, fertilizer application, cultivation management, as well as the prevention and control of plant diseases and pests
The current paper proposes the following hypothesis: Hypothesis H1: Expectations of market returns will directly facilitate the transition to standardized pesticide application
This study has discovered that the information on the application of pesticides negatively moderates the relationship between market returns and the standardized pesticide application, that is, the more adequate the information that has been obtained, the weaker the positive relationship between market returns and the standardized pesticide application
Summary
Agricultural production involves numerous links including, but not limited to, seed screening, fertilizer application, cultivation management, as well as the prevention and control of plant diseases and pests. During the prevention and control of plant diseases and pests, applying chemical pesticides (hereinafter referred to as pesticides) proves to be highly efficient and quick-acting. As the decision makers of pesticide application, farmers have their independent decision-making behaviors on pesticides and the techniques and procedures of pesticide application. Such behaviors affect the cost and benefit of agricultural production, and impose an influence on the number of pesticide residues, the quality and safety of agricultural products, the safety of the ecological environment, and human health.
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