Farmer advisory systems and pesticide use in legume-based systems in West Africa.

Autor: Tabe-Ojong MPJ; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: tabeojongmartinpaul@gmail.com., Nyam YS; Disaster Management Training and Education Centre (DiMTEC) for Africa, University of the Free State, Internal Box 66, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa., Lokossou JC; Department of Agri-Food Economics and Consumer Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Laval University, Quebec, Canada., Gebrekidan BH; Institute for Food and Resource Economics, University of Bonn, Nußallee 19-21, 53115 Bonn, Germany.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2023 Apr 01; Vol. 867, pp. 161282. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jan 03.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161282
Abstrakt: Despite the adverse effects of pesticides on the environment and human health, they are a key ingredient in boosting agricultural productivity as a way of meeting global food demand. While global levels of pesticides are towering in high-income countries, pesticide use in many parts of Africa remains low, with significant impacts on agricultural productivity and food production. We use a rich longitudinal dataset to examine the relationship between farmer advisory systems and pesticide use in legume-based production systems in Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria. We find that farmers who are advised by private extension systems are approximately 8 % more likely to use pesticides at an extensive level. They also use pesticides more intensively (41 %). On the other hand, farmers advised by public extension systems are about 5 % more likely to extensively use pesticides. These farmers are observed to reduce the intensive use of pesticides by about 14 %. Furthermore, we also show that farmers advised by joint private-public extension systems are about 4 % more likely to use pesticides as well as reduce their intensity of use by approximately 11 %. At the various country levels, there exists significant heterogeneity in the relationship between advisory systems and pesticide use, suggesting that context matters. Of course, the pesticide regulatory systems and the institutional environments in these countries vary greatly. Given these findings, our study offers key entry and leveraging points for increasing pesticide use at levels that limit their environmental and human effects but may ascertain increased agricultural productivity and food production.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare no conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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