Costs Of Pesticide Use Research Articles

Externalities of Pesticides and Their Internalization in the Wheat–Maize Cropping System—A Case Study in China’s Northern Plains

When the production or use of a product imposes a cost or benefit on a third party, this is referred to as an externality. Externalities of pesticides are associated with social and environmental costs. However, there is still a lack of a systematic method for evaluating and internalizing the externalities of pesticides. This study utilizes the pesticide’s environmental impact quotient and environmental accounting methods to assess the external costs associated with pesticide usage in the winter-wheat–summer-maize cropping system in China’s northern plains, with a specific focus on the pesticide use in Botou City during the year 2020 as a case study. Additionally, we introduce the concept of the net external value of pesticides and propose a methodology for its internalization, aiming to quantify the external costs induced by pesticide usage and explore the possibility of integrating them into market transactions. The results showed that the total external costs of pesticide use are 423.9 USD ha−1, with a positive external value of 171.9 USD ha−1 and a net external value of −252.0 USD ha−1. The negative external costs associated with pesticide use outweigh the positive external values. External costs varied significantly according to environmental receptors, after retaining two significant figures: applicators accounted for 45% of the total external costs, followed by pickers (32%), consumers (11%), groundwater (4.5%), fish (3.9%), beneficial insects (1.7%), birds (1.3%), and bees (1.1%). The external costs of maize cultivation were 33% higher than those of wheat cultivation. The application of herbicides resulted in the highest external costs compared with fungicides and insecticides. Based on the internalization of the results, imposing an ecological tax on pesticide users is recommended, with rates of 3.29% for wheat and 6.76% for maize. This research contributes to sustainable agricultural development by providing valuable insights for farmers in selecting environmentally friendly pesticides and informing the implementation of ecological taxes on pesticide usage.

Assessing the Overuse and Health Costs of Pesticide Use in Crop Cultivation: Findings from a Micro-level Study

Pesticides are widely used in agricultural production to prevent and control pests, diseases, weeds, and other plant pathogens to reduce or eliminate yield losses and maintain high product quality. Chemical pesticides can cause undesirable effects on human health and also to the environment because of misuse that concerned with its overuse and exposure to human health and environment. This paper made an attempt to examine the current pesticide use practices for agriculture in Keraniganj Upazilla of Dhaka district in Bangladesh. It analyzed the overuse of pesticide and short-term health costs of pesticide exposure using primary data purposively collected from 60 farmers from the study area. It found that the farmers used 21479.4 grams of extra pesticides commonly used in Bangladesh than the recommended amounts that should be used for the 5 different types of crops: boro paddy, cauliflower, potato, eggplant, red leaf vegetable, and gourd leaf vegetable for per acre of land. This generates an additional production cost of Tk.65,640.07 per acre in each growing season. Using the cost of illness (COI) method it is founded that the average health cost generated from pesticide application was estimated to be Tk.284.09 for one incidence of pesticide use related health problem. About 3.3% of the pesticide applicators were found to face breathing problem, 10% faced skin diseases, 13.3% diarrhea, 8.3% eye irritation and 18.3% headache because of pesticide pollution. It is also understood that 88.3% of the surveyed farmers were unaware about the side-effects of pesticide use, while 98.3% applicators did not use any special dress or personal protective equipment (PPE) and 61.7% used no mask during pesticide application in their crop fields. It is also found that there is an absence of bio-pesticide use in the study area. Based on the study findings this paper indicates that there is a need for rigorous training and knowledge sharing efforts among the pesticide applicators in the study area as well as in the entire country. Policy makers and the Agriculture Extension Department (AED) thus are particularly expected to address the issue with utmost importance to ensure proper use of pesticides for agriculture in the country.

Economic Evaluation of Health Cost of Pesticide Use: Willingness to Pay Method

This study highlights the results of contingent valuation method to measure health cost of pesticide use from farmer’s point of view. Analysis shows that farmers have a positive willingness to pay for avoiding pesticide related health risks. Theoretical validity tests show that relevant indicators such as risk perception, previous experience of pesticide related poisoning, education and income are significant predictors for the positive WTP. From the results it is evident that health effects of pesticide use provided motivation for farmers to pay more for practices like IPM that reduce dependence on pesticide use which in turn a strong motivation for policy-makers to continue research on IPM and its implementation. Keywords: Health Cost, WTP, Pesticide Use, IPM.

The social costs of pesticide use in France

The modern agricultural production system relies heavily on the use of synthetic pesticides, but over the course of recent decades various concerns have been raised on the associated negative externalities touching a variety of dimensions, such as human health and the environment. Yet, the magnitude of those effects is still unclear and data availability is scattered and heterogenous across dimensions, regions, and time. The public sector is called upon to develop and implement strategies to face those externalities and their associated social costs. This study aims to provide an assessment of social costs of pesticides in France in the prospect of an integration to the public budget spending, helping public authorities to identify financial flows of public funding with an impact perspective, within a methodological framework based on the social norms at the core of the public system. The results show that the social costs attributable to synthetic pesticide use in France amounted to 372 million euros, of which environmental costs are estimated at least at 291.5 million euros, health costs at least at 48.5 million euros, regulation at least at 31.9 million euros and public financial support to the sector at least at 0.4 million euros. For comparison, this total value of social costs represents more than 10% of the annual budget in 2017 of the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food (3,587 million euros). The analysis can be used as a monitoring indicator for the implementation of public policies in the context of the growing social and environmental issues they face.

The Cost of Postponement of Bt Rice Commercialization in China.

To maintain self-sufficiency in rice production and national food security, the Chinese government strongly supports research that aims at increasing the productivity of rice cultivation. Rice with genetic material from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt rice) is transgenic rice that can reduce lepidopteran pest damage and the use of insecticides. It was developed in the 1990s and earned biosafety certificates in 2009. However, because of political reasons, its commercialization in China has been postponed, and, to date, Bt rice is not grown in China. We assess the opportunity cost of postponement of Bt rice commercialization in China between the years 2009 and 2019 and consider the external costs of pesticide use and potential technology spill-overs of Bt rice. We estimate the cost of postponement of Bt rice over the analyzed period to be 12 billion United States (US) dollars per year.

Performance of Permanent Vegetable Production Systems Designed with the PermVeg Model for the Red River Delta, Vietnam

The aim of the research described was to design permanent vegetable production systems for the Red River Delta in Vietnam. Permanent vegetable production systems better meet the increasing consumer demand for vegetables and may increase farmers’ income. Optimum crop sequences for permanent vegetable production in the Red River Delta were designed with the recently developed model PermVeg. The crop sequences designed were tested in a field experiment from May 2007 to May 2009. The production systems tested were five systems designed according to the scenarios of (i) high profitability, (ii) low labor requirement, (iii) low costs of pesticide use, (iv) high level of crop biodiversity, and (v) low perishable products, respectively. The five systems were compared with the traditional vegetable production system. At local prices, only the high profitability and low labor requirement systems yielded significantly higher profits than the traditional system. At city wholesale market prices, profits of all permanent vegetable production systems were significantly higher than that of the traditional system, except for the low perishability system. Permanent vegetable production systems required more labor than the traditional system. Labor-day incomes of permanent vegetable production systems generally were not higher than those of the traditional system. The labor-day income increased only with the low labor requirement system at city wholesale market prices. The model outcomes correlated reasonably well with the labor requirement and the length in days of production systems in the field. The model poorly predicted profits and costs of pesticide use. We concluded that permanent vegetable production systems can yield higher profits than the traditional system, and can contribute to enhancing employment opportunities and increasing household income.

Willingness to Pay by the Farmers for Safer Use of Pesticides

This study attempted to investigate the determinants of indirect health cost of pesticide use by farmers. For the purpose willingness to pay for safer pesticides is taken as indirect health cost of pesticide use. The ordered probit model has been employed on primary data collected from Tehsil Bahawalpur in Pakistan. The results revealed that health impairment index, farmer?s literacy status, number of dosage of pesticides, farmer?s age, use of safety measures, farmer?s perception about symptom and working hours have positive impact while number of doses of insecticides, farm size and use of pesticide according to the recommended dose have a negative impact on the willingness to pay for safer pesticides. Highest ratio of the farmers (38 percent) is willing to pay over and above 20% premium for safer use of pesticides to avoid health cost of pesticides. It means that farmers are bearing a high health cost by use of pesticides.

Derivation of netput shadow prices under different levels of pest pressure

In this paper, we propose a framework to derive agricultural netput shadow prices that assign values to netputs in terms of their contribution to technical and environmental efficiency. Our modeling approach is based on the dual representation of an event-specific data envelopment model and is applied to a panel dataset of Dutch arable farms. Results show that netput shadow prices vary significantly across pest pressure events, suggesting the relevance to consider the event-specific nature of the production technology when computing them. By revealing the relative importance of pesticides in terms of their contribution to environmental efficiency, this study provides a potential framework for constructing penalties aiming to internalize some portion of the social cost of pesticide use.

Intercropping Empower Reduces Insect Pests and Increases Biodiversity in Agro-Ecosystem

Currently insect pest management solely depends on chemical pesticide that continuously affects on environment, biodiversity, animal as well as human health. Outbreak of secondary insect pest is also the cost of pesticide use in field leading crop more vulnerable to more pests. These negative impacts of pesticides have provoked growing interest in the adoption of multi-function agricultural biodiversity that promote pest management, creating interesting challenge for traditional approaches to regulatory compliance. To address multi-function agricultural practice, we tested several intercropping systems with mustard and their effect on pest management. Our results revealed that intercropping systems mustard with onion, garlic, radhuni and coriander significantly reduced pest population over sole crop. However, intercropping mustard with wheat and gram increased pest population in mustard field. This result indicated that all crops are not suitable for intercropping system. Among the tested intercropping systems, mustard with onion and coriander significantly reduced branch and flower infestation and increased pod formation per plant. These four intercropping systems did not significantly affect on honeybee pollinator which are crucial for mustard crop yield. A significant linear relationship was also found between honeybee population and pod formation. Our results indicate that suitable intercropping system can be a potential multi-functional agricultural practice for pest management in mustard crop.

PermVeg: A Model to Design Crop Sequences for Permanent Vegetable Production Systems in the Red River Delta, Vietnam

AbstractThe constraints in current vegetable production systems in the Red River Delta, Vietnam, in which vegetables are rotated with flooded rice, called for the design of alternative systems of permanent vegetable production. The practical model, PermVeg, was developed to generate vegetable crop sequences for permanent vegetable production, as based on a set of rules and restrictions. Permanent vegetable production systems were designed based on the following five scenarios: (i) increased profit, (ii) reduced labour requirement, (iii) decreased costs of pesticide use, (iv) improved crop biodiversity and (v) selected crops with low‐perishable products. PermVeg showed that theoretically all selected crop sequences in the different alternative systems increased farmers' income compared to the traditional system. The system with the highest profitability increased profit per hectare per day by a factor of three as compared to the traditional system. Labour requirement in days per hectare per day in a crop sequence also increased in all systems. Except for the system with low costs of pesticide use, permanent vegetable production systems had higher pesticide costs than the traditional, vegetable – flooded rice crop sequence. Given the model outcomes, permanent vegetable production systems can be an option to improve farmers' income, to provide labour opportunities, and, in the case of the high crop biodiversity system, to contribute to the development of sustainable production systems. The PermVeg model can act as a practical tool to rapidly explore crop sequence options and to help farmers' decision‐making.

Vegetable production in the Red River Delta of Vietnam. II. Profitability, labour requirement and pesticide use

Vegetable production plays an important role in the rural economy of the Red River Delta (RRD), Vietnam. Data were collected on present vegetable production in the RRD, with the aim to characterise the vegetable production in terms of profitability, labour requirement and pesticide use and to evaluate vegetable production for its potential to increase rural household income.Three hundred and sixty data sets consisting of qualitative (planting and harvesting dates) and quantitative (yield, product price, material and labour input) data were collected from 42 different vegetable crops presently produced commercially in the RRD. Variables were converted into value (thousand Vietnamese Dong, kVND) or days per hectare per growing day in the field (Gday), enabling analysis of data independent of crop growth duration.The income derived from vegetable production ranged from 100 to 400 kVND/ha/Gday. Labour input varied from 3 to 9 days/ha/Gday. Profit increased with an increase in the labour input per growing day. Short growth duration crops required a higher labour input per growing day. The average cost of pesticide use was 25.7 kVND/ha/Gday. Planting in the summer season may result in a shorter growing period as compared to planting in the winter season. The range of variation in the data reflects the diversity in crops and cropping conditions in the RRD.The results indicate that permanent vegetable production has the potential to substantially contribute to an increase in rural household income in the RRD, while increased labour demand can likely be fulfilled by the family household. Thereby, developing permanent vegetable production systems may be a pathway for development of the vegetable production sector in the RRD.

Erratum to: Distribution of health costs of pesticide use by household economy

After publication, authors discovered an error in interpreting statistical significance. For the conclusion made from the Table 1 ‘‘Percentage share of TC to the total household agricultural income,’’ the one-way ANOVA p value is equal to the 0.056 which is nonsignificant at the 95 % confidence interval. However, in the abstract, results, and conclusion, we have led to misinterpretation of the value. The following errata are highlighted

Pesticides, external costs and policy options for Thai agriculture

This study addresses the questions of how to estimate the external costs of agricultural pesticide use and how to disaggregate these costs to particular chemicals and farm production systems. Using the case of Thailand—a lower-middle income country with an export-oriented agriculture and an annual growth in pesticide use of about 10%, we estimate the external costs of pesticide use for the period 1997–2010 by applying the Pesticide Environmental Accounting (PEA) tool and compare the estimates to an accounting of actual costs for two years. We also use the tool to estimate the external costs of two distinct production systems of rice and intensive horticulture. Using the PEA tool, we estimate the average external costs of pesticide use in Thailand to be USD 27.1/ha of agricultural land in 2010; yet the actual cost estimate for the same year is only USD 18.7/ha. This difference leads us to discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the PEA approach. The negative externalities of pesticide use could be reduced by giving farmers a financial incentive to use fewer pesticides, for instance by introducing an environmental tax. We argue that for such instrument to be effective, it needs to be combined with supportive measures to change on-farm practices through awareness-raising about the adverse effects of pesticides and introducing farmers to non-chemical alternatives to manage their pest problems.

Distribution of health costs of pesticide use by household economy

We observed skewed distribution across household of benefits of pesticide use in vegetable farming in Nepal. However, economic burden or harm of pesticide use and exposure by household economy is poorly studied. It is hypothesized that exaggerated and incompetent pesticide use is likely to affect human health that may lead to decline in human productivity, and economic loss––that may further marginalize farmers. Thus, a study was conducted in the Ansi khola watershed of Kavrepalanchowk District of central Nepal. The primary aim of the study was to value risks of pesticide use and to estimate health costs of exposure by household category. We grouped household into “large-scale” who owns more than 1 ha of agricultural land, “small-scale” having 0.5 and <1 ha. Data were collected through (1) an initial household survey conducted from May to June 2008, (2) monthly visit surveys accomplished from June to November 2008 and (3) a final household survey conducted during November to December 2009. The cost of pesticide use and exposure was highest for medium-scale household; however, the economic burden in relation to incomes was the highest for small-scale household. On the basis of area under vegetables, small-scale household incurred 23 % higher economic burdens compared to the large-scale household. Overall, the cost of pesticide use and exposure amounted 15 % of agricultural income and/or 5 % of gross household income. For small-scale households, the cost was equivalent to 18 % of agricultural income and 6 % of gross income. Small-scale households are not only deprived from benefits of agriculture intensification, but also incurred highest burden of pesticide use.

DEVELOPING PERMANENT VEGETABLE PRODUCTION SYSTEMS FOR THE RED RIVER DELTA, VIETNAM

The year-round demand for commercially produced vegetables in South-East Asia is growing rapidly because of ongoing population growth and urbanisation. Vegetable production plays an important role in the rural economy of the Red River Delta, the economic centre of northern Vietnam. Field vegetables, however, are often grown in the cool season from October to January, in rotation with wet rice in the cool and the hot season from February to September. As this often causes seasonality of vegetable supply, we designed alternative cropping systems, with the aim to develop year-round supply for big cities such as Hanoi, to increase farmers’ income and to limit pest and disease incidence. Data on profit, labour requirement and costs of pesticide use of 42 vegetable crops grown in the Red River Delta were collected. From these data, five different permanent vegetable production systems were designed based on the following scenarios: (i) increase profit, (ii) reduce labour requirement, (iii) decrease the costs of pesticide use, (iv) maximize crop biodiversity, and (v) select crops with low perishable products, respectively. From May 2007 to May 2009, these systems were tested in the field and compared with the traditional system in which vegetable production in the cool season was rotated with wet rice cultivation in the cool and hot season. Profits of the high profit system and of the low labour requirement system was higher than that of the traditional system. The study suggests that permanent vegetable production systems such as the high profit system and the low labour requirement system can be an option to increase income for farmers in the Red River Delta, Vietnam.

Health and environmental costs of pesticide use in vegetable farming in Nepal

There is a growing concern of pesticide risks to human health, natural environment and ecosystems. Many previous economic valuations have accounted health aspects or environmental components, but rarely combined; thus, overall risk assessment is partially distorted. The study, conducted close to the capital of Nepal, addressed the health effects of pesticides on small-scale farmers and evaluated the monetary risks of pesticide use on human health and environmental resources. We also aim to establish the relationships among valuation methods. The paper adopts cost of illness, defensive expenditure and contingent valuation willingness to pay approach. The study concluded that the methods used for valuing pesticide risks to human and environmental health are theoretically consistent. The exposed individuals are likely to bear significant economic costs of exposures depending on geographical location, pesticide use magnitudes and frequency. Individuals are willing to pay between 53 and 79% more than the existing pesticide price to protect their health and environment. The integrated pest management training is less likely to reduce health costs of pesticide exposure, although it leads to higher investment in safety measures.

Cost-benefit analysis of crop protection measures

Reducing pesticide use can provide growers with direct economic benefits by decreasing the cost of inputs and increasing net returns. Chemical pesticides will continue to play a role in pest management for the future. In many situations, the benefits of pesticide use are high relative to the risks or there are no practical alternatives. The number and diversity of biological sources will increase, and products that originate in chemistry laboratories will be designed for particular target sites. Innovations in pesticide delivery systems in plants promise to reduce adverse environmental impacts even further. The correct use of pesticides can deliver significant socio-economic and environmental benefits in the form of safe, healthy, affordable food; and enable sustainable farm management by improving the efficiency with which we use natural resources such as soil, water and overall land use. Some alternative methods may be more costly than conventional chemical-intensive agricultural practices, but often these comparisons fail to account for the high environmental and social costs of pesticide use. Genetically engineered organisms that reduce pest pressure constitute a “new generation” of pest management tools. The use of transgenic crops will probably maintain or even increase the need for effective resistance management programmes. However, there remains a need for new chemicals that are compatible with ecologically based pest management and applicator and worker safety. Evaluation of the effectiveness of biocontrol agents should involve consideration of long-term impacts rather than only short-term yield, as is typically done for conventional practices. The justifications of government intervention in the management of pest control include the need to address the externality problems associated with the human and environmental health effects of pesticides.

Farmers' management of cabbage and cauliflower pests in India and their approaches to crop protection

Cabbage ( Brassica olearaceae var. capitata) and cauliflower ( Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) are two major vegetables produced and consumed in India. Over the years, they have been cultivated more intensively. This has resulted in higher rates of pest infestation, especially by the diamondback moth ( Plutella xylostella) and higher pesticide use. This, in turn, has contributed to insecticide resistance, environmental degradation, and human health impacts, which have triggered a growing interest in alternative management techniques. There is a dearth of knowledge on current pest management practices in cabbage and crucifer. Knowledge about pest management practices is necessary to develop appropriate strategies such as Integrated Pest Management. The main purpose of this study was to obtain comprehensive information on pest management practices among farmers growing cabbage and cauliflower in India. A survey was conducted in the states of Gujarat, West Bengal, and Karnataka from October 2006 through January 2007. Three hundred farmers were interviewed to obtain information on pesticide use in cabbage and cauliflower production, the cost of pesticide use, and socioeconomic characters that influence cabbage and cauliflower production. Farmers relied on pesticides as the major and often exclusive crop protection strategy. Ten of the active ingredients (16.4% of all pesticides reported by all farmers in this survey) were listed as extremely or highly hazardous (classes Ia and Ib) by the World Health Organization. The results confirmed that pesticide use differs between states of India, but that location alone does not determine pesticide spraying pattern. A regression model was used to identify determinants of pesticide application frequency and pesticide cost per hectare. After controlling for location, individual level variables, such as age, education and experience, had significant effects on how often farmers sprayed. Farmers also spent more for pesticides, and sprayed more frequently on cauliflower than on cabbage and on open-pollinated varieties than on hybrid varieties. Our findings highlight the excessive use of pesticides in cabbage and cauliflower, and the reliance on pesticides as the only pest management strategy. The results confirm the need for alternative management strategies. Bt vegetables may be one of these alternative strategies. However, it is questionable whether cultivation of Bt vegetables will reduce the strong reliance on pesticides. Small-scale farmers will need training in the identification of pests, natural enemies, basic ecology, and integrated pest management strategies to ensure sustainable and safe vegetable production.

The impact of climate change on the external cost of pesticide applications in US agriculture

Agricultural pesticides have adverse impacts on the environment and human health. These impacts are sensitive to climate change because pest pressure and optimal pesticide application rates vary with weather and climate conditions. This study uses the Pesticide Environmental Accounting (PEA) tool and statistically estimated relationships between pesticide applications, weather and climate to compute the impacts of climate change on the external cost of pesticide applications. Using data from 32 US states, 56 crops and 325 pesticides, the current average external cost of pesticide use in US agriculture is calculated at US$42 per hectare. Under projected climate change this value increases up to $72 per hectare by 2100.

Estimating the social cost of pesticide use: An assessment from acute poisoning in Brazil

The intensive use of pesticides in countries like Brazil has ignored structural and institutional shortfalls, such as the lack of workforce training for the new, difficult to implement technologies, and the institutional vulnerability of the environmental protection, health, and safety sectors. As a result we have “invisible” or social, environmental and health costs which end up being socialised with the farmer, in general, having no incentives to recognise and internalise them. This study is intended to review and develop this problem in the light of the Brazilian reality. To this end, we make use of an empirical exercise to illustrate estimation of the social cost associated with acute poisoning by pesticide using the PREVS/IBGE data (Harvest Forecast Research) in the state of Paraná, Brazil. The results suggest that, for maize, the costs of acute poisoning could represent 64% of the benefits of using herbicides and insecticides, and, in the best of hypotheses, when some risk factors are eliminated, they may reach 8% of the benefits of the use of these products. Similarly, when we examine future scenarios for five and ten years, we find less encouraging results, as in ten years the costs of acute poisoning could reach around 85% of the benefit of using insecticides and herbicides for maize. However, there is the encouraging news that, if preventive measures were taken during this time, the gains would be considerable, about 6.5 times greater. We conclude that an assessment of the real benefits involved with pesticides in Brazil is required, principally in regard to the smallholder, where farmers need more training in the use — or even the elimination — of these hazardous substances. There are sustainable technological options available which are economically efficient, especially if we consider the social, environmental and health costs. In this context it is worth highlighting the role of regulatory measures as a mechanism which can reorient generation of negative external costs through the reduction of current incentives in the socialisation of private costs.