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

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Title Farmer advisory systems and pesticide use in legume-based systems in West Africa
 
Creator Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul
Nyam, Yong Sebastien
Lokossou, Jourdain C.
Gebrekidan, Bisrat Haile
 
Subject pesticides
environment
human health
agriculture
food demand
food production
data
farmers
extension systems
regulatory systems
pollution
environmental engineering
 
Description 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.
 
Date 2023-04
2023-01-30T19:36:28Z
2023-01-30T19:36:28Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.; Nyam, Yong Sebastien; Lokossou, Jourdain C. and Gebrekidan, Bisrat Haile. 2023. Farmer advisory systems and pesticide use in legume-based systems in West Africa. Science of The Total Environment 867:161282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161282
1879-1026
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/128333
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161282
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-4.0
Open Access
 
Publisher Elsevier BV
 
Source Science of The Total Environment