Do farmers misuse pesticides in crop production in China? Evidence from a farm household survey.

Background: In China, pesticide overuse and underuse have been studied. However, little empirical evidence has been provided for pesticide misuse.

Results: Using data from a farm household survey in 2016, we quantitatively analyzed Chinese farmers' pesticide misuse in the production of rice, apple, tea, and greenhouse vegetables. The results show that pesticide misuse is common in China. However, the misuse is found to be lower in rice production than in the production of apple, tea, and greenhouse vegetables. Compared with that of the major pests, pesticide misuse is much more common for the control of the secondary pests. In a considerable number of observations, some farmers even failed to indicate the pests they controlled or the pesticides they used.

Conclusions: Pesticide misuse may result in both the overuse and underuse of pesticides. In China, pesticide misuse could be attributed to the lack of pest management knowledge among farmers, limited accessibility to a high-quality governmental agricultural extension service, misleading information, and absence of pest prediction and forecast. Hence, a socialized agricultural extension system and new agricultural extension models adapted to different farmers are expected to be developed and implemented in China. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.