Farmers' Perceptions of Pesticide Efficacy: Reflections on the Importance of Pest Management Practices Adoption

Few integrated pest management programs pay specific attention to the decision-making process of farmers in choosing and applying pest management interventions. Thus, practical recommendations provided through extension services frequently fail to be adopted by farmers. A survey of farmers was conducted in the rural area of Arsanjan County in Fars province of southern Iran to explore farmers' perceptions of pesticide efficacy and to evaluate whether these perceptions are reflected in attitudes towards the importance of pest management practices adoption. The study revealed two distinct groups of farmers: group A with farmers who clearly had a positive opinion about the efficacy of the current pesticide products (i.e., they felt that current pesticides are generally effective), and group B with farmers who had a rather negative opinion about the efficacy of the current pesticide products (i.e., they felt that current pesticides are not so effective). Farmers in group A considered IPM principles to be the most important of three areas of pest management practices, they were aware of the potential health hazards of pesticide use, and they were interested in knowing about other alternatives for pest control besides the use of pesticides. By contrast, farmers in group B rated IPM principles as less important, they felt that pesticide use is the sole method of pest control, and they tended to increase pesticide use every year to control pests. Moreover, farmers in group B were not aware of the potential health hazards of pesticide use. Perceptions of pesticide efficacy were found to play a major role in the behavior of farmers towards the use of pesticides and the adoption of alternative methods of pest control such as IPM. Evidently, farmers' perceptions of pesticide efficacy should receive special attention by extension services as a critical point of intervention for rational pesticide use and adoption of IPM programs.