Pesticide use behavior and risk attitude of vegetable farmers in Pathum Thani

Abstract

The past agricultural development in Thailand has resulted in a high use of chemical pesticide. Consequently, there have been various impacts on economics, social and environment. So, studying the use of chemical pesticides and risk attitude of farmers would be important to correct farmer behavior on pesticides use. The objectives of this study were to analyze farmers’ behavior of chemical pesticides, their risk attitudes, and factors affecting the chemical pesticides use. Kale and yard long bean were selected to be the target crops. The study area was located in Pathum Thani province, where 96 households were sampled during the cropping year 2014/2015. The study employed the expectation theory to describe the risk aversion of farmers. Descriptive statistics and chi-square methods were used. The results on the behavior of chemical pesticides found that considering the World Health Organization guidelines on toxicity, most Kale farmers used pesticides at the medium level as class II at the average amount of chemical pesticide in gram active ingredient of 131.77 grams of active ingredient/ rai. That of Yard long bean farmers used chemical pesticide at class U, the unlikely to present an acute hazard level with an average amount of 154.74 grams of active ingredient/rai. When considering the risk attitude, most farmers are risk aversion, The high risk aversion farmer trended to apply higher chemical pesticide use. Suggestions to related government agencies are for instance they should disseminate the knowledge on alternative methods to chemical pesticide to farmers, e.g. biological control and IPM. A support of IPM techniques and alternative methods should be implemented widely within the country.