Is Environmentally-FriendlyAgriculture Less Profitable for Farmers? Evidence onIntegrated Pest Management in Bangladesh

Dasgupta, Susmita ; Meisner, Craig ; Wheeler, David

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

关键词: AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS;    AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION;    AGRICULTURE;    AIR QUALITY;    BIRDS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3417
RP-ID  :  WPS3417

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Concerns about the sustainability ofconventional agriculture have prompted widespreadintroduction of integrated pest management (IPM), anecologically-based approach to control of harmful insectsand weeds. IPM is intended to reduce ecological and healthdamage from chemical pesticides by using natural parasitesand predators to control pest populations. Since chemicalpesticides are expensive for poor farmers, IPM offers theprospect of lower production costs and higher profitability.However, adoption of IPM may reduce profitability if it alsolowers overall productivity, or induces more intensive useof other production factors. On the other hand, IPM mayactually promote more productive farming by encouraging moreskillful use of available resources. Data scarcity hashindered a full accounting of IPM's impact onprofitability, health, and local ecosystems. Using newsurvey data, the authors attempt such an accounting for ricefarmers in Bangladesh. They compare outcomes for farmingwith IPM and conventional techniques, using input-useaccounting, conventional production functions, and frontierproduction estimation. All of their results suggest that theproductivity of IPM rice farming is not significantlydifferent from the productivity of conventional farming.Since IPM reduces pesticide costs with no countervailingloss in production, it appears to be more profitable thanconventional rice farming. The interview results alsosuggest substantial health and ecological benefits. However,externality problems make it difficult for farmers to adoptIPM individually. Without collective adoption,neighbors' continued reliance on chemicals to killpests will also kill helpful parasites and predators, aswell as exposing IPM farmers and local ecosystems tochemical spillovers from adjoining fields. Successful IPMadoption may therefore depend on institutional support forcollective action.