Determinants And Impacts Of Pest And Disease Management Outsourcing

Pest and disease can significantly decrease crop yields and have serious implications on production costs,as well as negative externalities.As such effective management is therefore of critical importance for sustainable agricultural production in an era of increasing demand for higher quality foods,environmental degradation and climate change.Chemical pest control has dominated the pest and disease management approaches by Chinese farmers in the past and is expected to continue its dominance in the near future.Management of pest and diseases heavily reliant on pesticides has played a significant role in improving yields,especially in assisting China in feeding 20%of the world's population with only 7%of the arable land resources.However,pesticide is a double edged sword,reducing crop losses in one aspect while simultaneously having adverse negative extermalities on soils and water quality of the agro-ecosystem.,threatening to undermine rice production,the staple food of 65%of the population,and food security as well as the ecological sustainability of China's agriculture.One of the main attributable factors accounting for the negative externalities of pesticides is its inefficient use or overuse,driven by increasing farm size and the concurrent decrease in labour availability and quality.Agricultural outsourcing therefore offers a potential solution to these challenges,requiring a paradign shift from a traditional approach where all activities are undertaken by farmers or farm families,to a new production method that encompasses hiring of labour from outside or professional organisations with technological advantages.Outsourcing pest and disease management offers advantages of allowing farmers who have comparative advantages in non-farm activity to remain in production as well as overcoming their disadvantage of access to machines for spraying.It also provides farmers with access to specialized knowledge and skills required for efficient pest and disease control.Although outsourcing of pest and disease management has developed rapidly in China,s rice production and offers a number of benefits,there is a paucity of empirical evidence on the determinants of farmers' outsourcing decisions and their impacts on riee production as well as the environment.Using a unique data set collected from 425 farm households in Jiangsu Province,China,employing a multinomial endogenous treatment effects model and an EIQ model,this thesis systematically investigates 1)the determinants of farmers'outsourcing choices;2)the impact of outsourcing pest and disease management on pesticide use,pest and disease control costs,and rice yields;and 3)the impact of the outsourcing on the environment.The results show that,the propensity to outsource through the professional services is influenced by households' age,experience of being poisoned,risk attitude,off-farm income,and farm size.Alternatively,outsourcing labour for pest and disease management is significantly influenced by households' age,experience of being poisoned,extension contact,and farm size.However,there was no evidence that education,gender,household labour endowment,agricultural training,political status,and pest and disease outbreak(both past and current),have any significant influence on outsourcing decisions of farmers.The results further show that outsourcing through the professional services increases pesticides cost by 92.9%with a corresponding increase in yield of 7.2%.While the increase in yield may justify the use of the programme,this increase is not considered to be sizeable t.o increase farm profits in comparison to non-outsourcing farmers.Conversely,outsourcing labour for pest and disease control reduces the number of pesticide applications by 31.1%with no significant effect on pest control cost and yield.In relation to the environmental impact of pest and disease management outsourcing,I used the Environmental Impact Quotient(EIQ)as an indicator to measure the environmental impact.The results indicate that outsourcing through the professional service reduces the EIQ field use rating of pesticides by 20.7%without compromising yields.Conversely,Outsourcing labour for pest and disease management was found to have no significant influence on the EIQ field use rating.Further,analyses of the EIQ sub-components show that outsourcing through the professional service can potentially reduce the negative effects of pesticides on the farm worker and ecological environment components,but has no significant effect on the consumer component.This study suggests that outsourcing through the government instituted programme can increase yield,but with associated cost which does not result in any sizable increase in farm profits,as such greater efforts should be made to find cheaper ways to manage pest and disease as well as ensuring that greater savings are passed on to the farmers,given the subsidized nature of the programme.Also,as outsourcing pest and disease management through the professional services can potentially reduce the environmental impact of pesticides,more efforts can be made to encourage the adoption of the programme including targeting young farm households with large farms.