Can We Really Use Prices to Control Pesticide Use? Results from a Nonparametric Model
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Can We Really Use Prices to Control Pesticide Use? Results from a Nonparametric Model Kassoum Ayouba 1 & Stéphane Vigeant 2 Received: 14 January 2019 / Accepted: 5 May 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract In this paper, we assess to what extent pesticide price can be used to bring about more sustainable agricultural practices in field crop farms. We use an innovative three-step nonparametric frontier approach to simulate price increases that would persuade “rational” farmers to adopt practices that use the smallest possible amount of pesticides while still enabling them to continue to produce the same output, given the current production technology. The procedure is based on a data envelopment analysis (DEA) estimation of the production technology. The result suggests that very large price changes are necessary to bring about fairly small change of the quantity of pesticide used, thus challenging the efficacy of price as a policy tool in the short run. Consequently, managing pesticide is likely to require a multi-channel procedure, as prices appear not to be a fully effective instrument. Since the short-run demand structure for pesticides seems to be inelastic, a clear communication of the long-run objective is desirable if not essential for any policy to be implemented. Keywords Farms . Pesticide use . Pesticide price . Environment . Data envelopment analysis . Production technology . France JEL C6 . Q18 . Q12 . Q52
1 Introduction Pesticides prevent or reduce crop losses that can result from harmful pests, and are therefore an integral component of modern agricultural production systems [22]. The good news about pesticides is that they enhance production performance, while allowing farmers to reduce the use of more expensive inputs (e.g., labor). Along with the selection of high-yield varieties, the use of fertilizers, and the development of irrigation and harvesting technologies, the use of pesticides has contributed considerably to the growth of agricultural production in recent decades [25].
* Kassoum Ayouba [email protected] Stéphane Vigeant [email protected] 1
Université Clermont Auvergne, AgroParisTech, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, Territoires, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
2
Université de Lille, CNRS, IÉSEG School of Management, UMR 9221 – LEM, F-59000 Lille, France
This higher productivity comes at a cost, however, as the use of pesticides in agriculture often has undesired side effects for the environment and human health [2, 20, 23]. These effects range from unintentional pest predator elimination, increasing the size of many agricultural pest species, which in turn leads to more pesticide use [28] to acute and chronic toxicity for humans [27]. As highlighted by the ongoing debate on the potential ban on glyphosate in Europe, concerns regarding the risks associated with pesticide use are growing rapidly. As a result, policymakers are facing the challenge of implementing action plans to protect human health and wildlife from the undesirable effects of pesticides and ther
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