What Do Romanian Farmers Think about the Effects of Pesticides? Perceptions and Willingness to Pay for Bio-Pesticides

Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag,Stefan Cristian Vesa,Sofia Copacinschi,Ioan Banatean-Dunea,Dacinia Crina Petrescu

doi:10.3390/su11133628

Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag, Stefan Cristian Vesa + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su11133628

Copy DOI

Abstract

Farmers’ knowledge and perception of risks associated with pesticides are core issues in adopting sustainable behavior related to pesticides. This study aimed to find out if Romanian farmers’ perceptions regarding the effects of conventional pesticides on pests, health, and the environment can predict farmers’ willingness to replace conventional pesticides with bio ones and to pay a higher price for the latter. This is the first investigation of Romanian farmers’ perceptions regarding pesticides, thus providing information useful both from the market and environmental protection perspectives. Binary logistic regression was performed to test the relationship between the perceived effect of pesticides, on the one side, and willingness to change conventional with bio-pesticides and willingness to pay for bio-pesticides, on the other side. It was found that the efficiency of conventional pesticides on combating pests and their effects on a farmer’s health can predict farmer willingness to replace conventional approaches with bio-pesticides. Conclusions disclose entry points for interventions aimed at improving communication and information strategies at the country level for raising awareness of the adverse effects of pesticide products, both at the food consumer and farmer levels.

Highlights

Maintaining a sustainable quality of the environment in the context of population growth and of the increase of food needs is a topical issue of the agriculture–environment relationship [1,2,3]
The findings of the present study disclose entry points for interventions aimed at improving communication and information strategies targeting farmers at the country level for raising awareness on the adverse effects of conventional pesticides products
By investigating for the first time Romanian farmers’ perception regarding the effects of conventional pesticides on health and environment, and their efficiency, this study offers new information about the image of pesticides in their consumers’ minds, showing the distance between this image and the desired one

Summary

Introduction

Maintaining a sustainable quality of the environment in the context of population growth and of the increase of food needs is a topical issue of the agriculture–environment relationship [1,2,3]. It is self-evident that the use of pesticides and their impact on water, soil, air, and biodiversity is a worldwide challenge [4,5,6]. The increased dependence on chemical pesticides was called “pesticide treadmill” [10] and it included two responses to pesticide resistance: increase of dose and of use frequency of the less-effective pesticides (which caused pest resistance) and development and commercialization of new pesticides [11]

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion