Adoption Determinants and Economic Benefits of Integrated Pest Management for Nepali Vegetable Farmers

The majority of Nepal's population relies on agriculture, so invasive and native pests' ability to reduce farmers' crop yields is a significant concern. To protect farm households' food security and livelihoods, it is imperative to find effective pest management products and practices. Integrated pest management (IPM) is an arguably cheaper and less harmful alternative to conventional synthetic pesticides and is a way of managing and preventing agricultural pests using different levels of control methods (e.g., biological, cultural, and chemical) that have minimal adverse environmental and human health impacts. This study provides information on the extent of IPM practices by Nepali vegetable farmers, adds to the understanding of factors that influence the IPM adoption decision, and compares the economic benefits and performance of IPM to other conventional pest management practices. Our survey of 346 vegetable farmers in four districts throughout Nepal provides the primary data we use in our analysis. We distinguish practices into two categories: simple IPM practices that are commonly used and require limited knowledge and complex practices that typically require more knowledge and conscious use of IPM itself. We use a probit model to determine the factors that significantly affect the decision to adopt complex IPM practices. Our results find two explanatory variables that consistently affect complex IPM adoption: gender and IPM training. We compare the costs and benefits of using IPM to other conventional pest management practices by analyzing results from experimental field trials conducted in Nepal's Banke and Surkhet districts. Using an economic surplus approach, we estimate the market-level benefits of using IPM practices for three vegetables in Banke and four vegetables in Surkhet. The results predict cumulative IPM benefits of $1.06 to $1.44 million across the two districts.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Agricultural and Applied Economics

Department dc:contributor.department

Agricultural and Applied Economics

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• McGowan, Amanda Leigh

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Norton, George W.
• Mills, Bradford F.

Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember

• Larochelle, Catherine

• Nepal
• integrated pest management
• vegetables
• adoption
• economic impact

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:32961

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/107814