Abstract
Environmental pollution as a result of the improper disposal of pesticide packaging wastes (PPWs) has posed serious harm to groundwater, soil and public health. However, few studies focused on PPWs green disposal willingness and behaviors of farmers from the perspective of perceived value. Based on the first-hand data, collected from 635 farmers of grain-producing counties in Henan province of China, through the questionnaire survey method, this paper adopted a structural equation model (SEM) to empirically explore the formation mechanism of perceived value on PPWs green disposal, and green disposal willingness and behaviors were further in-depth investigated. The results showed that the action of farmers’ green disposal of PPWs followed the causal relationship, whereby perceived value→behavioral willingness→behavioral performance, and farmers’ perceived value came from the comprehensive tradeoff and comparison between perceived benefits and perceived risks. Meanwhile, the perceived benefits and perceived risks could have significant effects on green disposal willingness and behaviors directly and indirectly, among which perceived benefits (0.478) had the greatest positive total effects on the willingness, and perceived risks (−0.362) had the greatest negative total effects on the behaviors. Interestingly, there existed inconsistence between farmers’ green disposal willingness and behaviors. When faced with the choice of PPWs green disposal, the farmers were generally risk averse, which resulted in them being more inclined to take conservative behaviors driven by the profit maximization, and even showed the “powerless” state with willingness but no actual action.
Highlights
Pesticides play a positive role in ensuring the increase of agricultural output and farmers’ income, as well as the effective supply of agricultural products, and have an important inputs in agriculture [1,2].China’s total agricultural output has increased, and pesticides have played an irreplaceable role in maintaining its high yield [3]
Farmers tend to overuse pesticides to better control the crop diseases and pests [4,5], which were accompanied by the improper disposal of amounts of pesticide packaging waste (PPWs) resulting in environmental pollution that had become one of the outstanding problems of agricultural non-point source pollution in China [6,7]
PPWs mainly refer to the packaging materials directly in contact with pesticides discarded after use in the agriculture production, including bottles, cans, barrels and bags made of plastic, glass, metal, paper and other materials [8]
Summary
Pesticides play a positive role in ensuring the increase of agricultural output and farmers’ income, as well as the effective supply of agricultural products, and have an important inputs in agriculture [1,2]. China’s total agricultural output has increased, and pesticides have played an irreplaceable role in maintaining its high yield [3]. Farmers tend to overuse pesticides to better control the crop diseases and pests [4,5], which were accompanied by the improper disposal of amounts of pesticide packaging waste (PPWs) resulting in environmental pollution that had become one of the outstanding problems of agricultural non-point source pollution in China [6,7]. PPWs mainly refer to the packaging materials directly in contact with pesticides discarded after use in the agriculture production, including bottles, cans, barrels and bags made of plastic, glass, metal, paper and other materials [8]. Public Health 2020, 17, 3753; doi:10.3390/ijerph17113753 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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