A general framework incorporating knowledge, risk perception and practices to eliminate pesticide residues in food: A Structural Equation Modelling analysis based on survey data of 986 Chinese farmers

Risk cognition, agricultural cooperatives training, and farmers' pesticide overuse: Evidence from Shandong Province, China

Introduction

Pesticides are widely and excessively used in the world. Reducing pesticide overuse is an important measure to protect the environment and human health.

Methods

Based on the survey data of 518 farmers in Shandong Province, China, using the Logit model to empirically test the effect of risk cognition on farmers' pesticide overuse behavior and the moderating effect of cooperatives training on the effect of risk cognition on farmers' pesticide overuse behavior.

Results and discussion

We found that 21.24% of farmers overused pesticides. The three dimensions of risk cognition have significant negative effects on farmers' behavior of excessive pesticide use, among which the human health risk cognition has the largest impact (0.74), followed by food safety risk cognition (0.68) and ecological environment risk cognition (0.63). Cooperatives training has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between risk cognition and pesticide overuse behavior, that is, when risk cognition matches farmers participating in cooperatives training, the effect on reducing pesticide overuse is more significant. Years of education, planting scale and detection frequency of pesticide residues have significant effects on farmers' pesticide overuse.

Conclusions

The government should help farmers reduce pesticide overuse by improving risk cognition, developing agricultural cooperatives and perfecting guarantee conditions.

Perceived Risk for Dengue Infection Mediates the Relationship between Attitude and Practice for Dengue Prevention: A Study in Seremban, Malaysia

Dengue remains a public health concern due to limited curative treatment and safe vaccine availability. Prevention by individual is utmost necessary but its practice is still lacking. Perceived risk to disease has been reported to exert a good effect on health behaviour change. However, limited evidence showed its relationship towards attitude and practice for dengue prevention. Hence, we aim to measure the mediating effect of dengue risk perception in the relationship between dengue attitude and dengue prevention practice. A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2021 to November 2021 in a district of Seremban using a pre-validated questionnaire. Informed consent was obtained from the respondents prior to inclusion in the study. The study was approved by the ethical research committee. A total of 347 respondents took part in the survey, but only 341 data points were included in the final analysis. The majority of the respondents were female (63.0%), of Malay ethnicity (86.8%), married (55.4%), and currently employed (71.0%). The pooled confirmatory factor analysis result demonstrated an RMSEA value of 0.038 (<0.08), CFI value of 0.969 (>0.90), TLI value of 0.9565 (>0.90), and ChiSq/df = 1.479 (<3.0). All the hypotheses for direct effect yielded a significant and positive relationship. Bootstrapping analysis to test for mediation revealed a partial mediation effect as both indirect and direct effects are significant. Risk perception is a mediator variable between attitude and dengue prevention practice. Therefore, our recommendation is to increase health awareness activity that helps to improve individual's risk perception through active health promotion and a health educational campaign that inculcates dengue risk messages. Ultimately, this effort can enhance good health prevention behaviour.

Gap between Willingness and Behaviors: Understanding the Consistency of Farmers' Green Production in Hainan, China

The green transformation of production modes plays an essential role in the sustainable development of China's agriculture and the modernization process, but there is often a deviation between farmers' behavior and their willingness regarding green production. This paper analyzed the factors influencing the deviation of farmers' green production behaviors from their willingness, along with their hierarchical logic structure, using the ordered logit model and ISM model with field survey data of 436 households in Hainan Province. The results show that: (1) there are deviations between farmers' green production behavior and willingness; (2) age, number of dependents, peer influence, and social networks aggravate farmers' green production behavior-willingness deviation, while ethnicity, education, land fragmentation, agricultural expenditure, land transfer, neighborhood learning, and green production cognition mitigate the deviation; (3) among the significant influencing factors, farmers' perceptions of green production, peer influence, land transfer, and agricultural expenditure are the direct surface factors, while neighborhood learning, land fragmentation, and number of dependents are the middle indirect factors, and farmers' education, social networks, age, and ethnicity are the deep-rooted factors. This study sheds more light and detail on the understanding of the factors influencing farmers' green production behavior-willingness deviation, and provides more practical and relevant guidance for the agricultural green development in tropical China.

Modeling of Farmers' Vegetable Safety Production Based on Identification of Key Risk Factors From Beijing, China

Food safety emphasizes risk control in the production process, and has attracted much attention from food regulators and consumers in recent years. The objectives of this study were to conduct early key risk factors identification and risk modeling for vegetable safety production. To achieve these objectives, this article quantitatively identified the key direct and indirect risk factors in vegetable safety production through questionnaire surveys and a multivariate linear model, and modeled the effects of key risk factors affecting vegetable safety production based on the catastrophe progression method. Based on 973 valid farmers' questionnaires from Beijing, China, the results showed that key direct risk factors are production violation, farmland biological control, pesticide and fertilizer use criteria, and agricultural consumable handling; key indirect risk factors included cooperative participation, planting years, prohibited pesticide knowledge, production recording, and product type. Through the empirical analysis, it can be seen that there are regional differences in the production risk of vegetable farmers in Beijing. The production risks of Changping, Huairou, and Shunyi are the most serious; from a city-wide perspective, the risk of farmland biological control is greatest, followed by risk aversion ability. The findings of this research have important implications for safe vegetable production and farmers' production risk control.

Modeling farmers' intention for safe pesticide use: the role of risk perception and use of information sources

Intention for safe pesticide use plays a crucial role in the mode of pesticide spraying, but several factors are involved in the formation of intention by farmers. This work focused on the levels of farmers' perception of pesticide risks (i.e., toxicity levels, health, and environmental effects) and utilization of information sources and examined their impact on intention for safe pesticide use in rural Iran. Most farmers (53%) showed low levels of risk perception by pesticide use and reported poor use of the available information sources about pesticides. Pesticide retailers were mentioned as the primary information point of farmers. In addition, almost half of the farmers (49.2%) expressed worryingly negative intention for safe pesticide use. Perception of pesticide risks and utilization of information sources were significantly correlated with age and spraying experience (P < 0.01), while intention for safe pesticide use was significantly correlated with farming experience (P < 0.05) and spraying experience (P < 0.05). Analysis with structural equation modeling showed that perception of pesticide risks and use of information sources together explained 80% of the variability in farmers' intention. Moreover, perception of pesticide risks (P < 0.01) and employment of information sources (P < 0.05) had a positive relationship with intention for safe handling of pesticides, thus showing a predictive link with intention. Therefore, promoting farmers' perception of pesticide risks and providing credible information sources are essential for improving intention for safe pesticide use among farmers.

Ecological risk assessment of pesticide residues in soils from vegetable production areas: A case study in S-Nepal

Pesticides pose a serious risk to ecosystems. In this study, we used European Food Safety Authority methods, such as risk quotient (RQ) and toxicity exposure ratios (TER), to assess the potential ecological risks of 15 pesticide residues detected in agricultural soils in the Gaidahawa Rural Municipality of Nepal. The mean and maximum concentrations of the detected pesticide residues in the soil were used for risk characterization related to soil organisms. RQ_mean, TER_mean and RQ_maximum, TER_maximum were used to determine general and the worst-case scenarios, respectively. Of all the detected pesticides in soils, the no observed effect concentration (NOEC) for 27% of the pesticides was not available in literature for the tested soil organisms and their TER and RQ could not be calculated. RQ threshold value of ≥1 indicates high risk for organisms. Similarly, TER threshold value of ≥5, which is acceptable trigger point value for chronic exposure, indicates an acceptable risk. The results showed that the worst-case scenario (RQ_maximum) indicated a high risk for soil organisms from chlorpyrifos [RQ_maximum > 9 at depths (cm) of 0-5, 15-20 and 35-40 soil layer]; imidacloprid (1.78 in the 35-40 cm soil layer) and profenofos (3.37 in the 0-5 cm and 1.09 in the 35-40 cm soil layer). Likewise, for all the soil depths, the calculated TER for both the general and worst-case scenarios for chlorpyrifos ranged from 0.37 to 3.22, indicating chronic toxicity to F. candida. Furthermore, the risk of organophosphate pesticides for soil organisms in the sampling sites was mainly due to chlorpyrifos, except for two study sites where the risk was from profenofos. Ecological risk assessment (EcoRA) of the pesticide use in the study area indicated that the EFSA soil organisms were at risk at some of the localities where farmers practiced conventional farming.

Pest control ability, technical guidance, and pesticide overuse: evidence from rice farmers in rural China

Pesticide overuse is still prevalent in many developing countries. And improving farmers' pest control ability is considered to be the key to achieve pesticide reduction. Based on the survey data of 822 rice farmers from Hubei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces in the Yangtze River Basin, we demonstrated the impact of pest control ability and technical guidance on farmers' pesticide overuse. We find that rice farmers' insufficient pest control ability does not necessarily lead to pesticide overuse, which depends on whether there is external technical guidance. The technical guidance of government agrotechnical stations and pesticide retailers can weaken pesticide overuse caused by lack of personal ability. In terms of sample, variable and method substitution, the above estimated results are still robust. In addition, we find that different subjects and links of pesticide technical guidance will bring different impacts. The technical guidance of agrotechnical stations mainly plays a role in the time and type of pesticide application, while the pesticide retailers mainly play a role in the time and dosage of pesticide application. This paper emphasizes that strengthening the guidance and regulation of pesticide technology guidance subject is also an efficient way of pesticide reduction. This will help to improve the effect of agricultural extension and accelerate the realization of pesticide reduction target in China.

The role of customer education: a repeated cross-sectional study

Purpose

Customer education is considered as an appropriate communication strategy for promoting green products. This paper aims to elaborate on the characteristics of customer education that are suitable for green products by identifying what messages must be delivered, sources and channels that must be used to achieve the greatest effect. Moreover, this study uses a repeated cross-sectional approach by using the same research model in 2008 and 2019.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire was arranged based on the research model. In 2008, the data were collected at 12 shopping malls in Jakarta. The 2019 data were collected online, using Google forms, from citizens of Jakarta and five nearby cities. Then, the data were processed using structural equation modeling.

Findings

Data analysis of both years shows that education containing messages that are both informational and transformational can increase customers’ perceptions of the benefits and economic accessibility of green products, as well as environmental concerns. This study’s results also indicate that customers’ intentions to buy green products are influenced by their attitudes toward buying. However, the impact of customers’ perceptions of benefit and economic accessibility on their attitudes toward green purchasing varied between 2008 and 2019.

Practical implications

Sustainable consumption can be pursued through customer education once a community’s economic conditions have reached a certain level. This study shows how changes have unfolded in Indonesia in several areas, therefore it should also be necessary to pursue green behavior via policies that are tailored to changes in the community.

Social implications

This study shows how changes have unfolded in Indonesia in several areas, therefore it should also be necessary to pursue green behavior via policies that are tailored to changes in the community.

Originality/value

Investigation of the role of customer education in green products using a repeated cross-sectional study.

Evaluations of the Roles of Organizational Support, Organizational Norms and Organizational Learning for Adopting Environmentally Friendly Technologies: A Case of Kiwifruit Farmers’ Cooperatives of Meixian, China

Environmentally friendly technologies have long been recognized as a widespread phenomenon working within the functions and performance of farms. Farmer’s cooperative organization might profoundly foster the environmentally friendly technologies (EFT) and availing competitive advantage to the farmer. Illustrated by the natural-resource-based view of the farm (NRBV), this study examined the influence of organizational support, organizational norms, and organizational learning on adopting EFT and proposed a model quantifying the impacts of these approaches towards availing competitive capabilities (i.e., cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery). The framework is empirically endorsed by employing the partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with the help of a household survey from a spectrum of 292 farmers of 38 kiwifruit cooperatives of Meixian County, China, from August to September 2020. The findings demonstrate that organizational support, organizational norms, and organizational learning positively influence EFT. Moreover, the study found EFT positively impacts product cost, product quality, product delivery, and production flexibility. Interestingly, the relationship between the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies and the competitive capabilities of kiwifruit farmers of Meixian is positively significant. The study proposes several policy recommendations emphasizing the role of organizations in the form of farmer’s cooperatives in boosting farmers to engage in proenvironmental behavior and, therefore, shifting the trends of future research directions on the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies.

A Review on Prediction Models for Pesticide Use, Transmission, and Its Impacts

The lure of increased productivity and crop yield has caused the imprudent use of pesticides in great quantity that has unfavorably affected environmental health. Pesticides are chemicals intended for avoiding, eliminating, and mitigating any pests that affect the crop. Lack of awareness, improper management, and negligent disposal of pesticide containers have led to the permeation of pesticide residues into the food chain and other environmental pathways, leading to environmental degradation. Sufficient steps must be undertaken at various levels to monitor and ensure judicious use of pesticides. Development of prediction models for optimum use of pesticides, pesticide management, and their impact would be of great help in monitoring and controlling the ill effects of excessive use of pesticides. This paper aims to present an exhaustive review of the prediction models developed and modeling strategies used to optimize the use of pesticides.

Factors affecting the willingness of agricultural green production from the perspective of farmers' perceptions

In the context of increasingly tight resource and environmental constraints, understanding why and how farmers were willing to engage in agricultural green production (AGP) had become a major practical issue that needed to be answered to promote sustainable development of agricultural economy. This study collected first-hand data of 645 grain growers and used structural equation model (SEM) to explore the impacts of farmers' perceptions on AGP willingness focusing on perceived value and its antecedent factors, namely perceived benefits and perceived risks. Results showed that perceived value and perceived benefits had significantly positive impacts on AGP willingness, while the impacts of perceived risks was significantly negative. Furthermore, it was found that although the direct effect from perceived value (0.364) on farmers' AGP willingness was greater than perceived benefits and perceived risks, the decisive factor that ultimately played a key role in AGP willingness was farmers' perceived benefits (0.501). This was because perceived value played an actively mediating role of 23.1% in the path from perceived benefits to green production willingness. Besides, the multi-group analysis (MGA) found that the variable 'whether to join a cooperative or not' had a positively moderating effect on the relationship between farmers' AGP perceived value and willingness. Meanwhile, the variable 'joining cooperative group' (0.552) had a greater impact on the perceived value-green production willingness path of farmers' AGP than the variable 'non-joining cooperative group' (0.251), which indicated that farmers' AGP willingness could be enhanced by joining a cooperative. This study provides some enlightenment and reference for policy makers and practitioners to design or adjust programs related to reducing rural environmental pollution and implementing AGP.

Willingness and Behaviors of Farmers' Green Disposal of Pesticide Packaging Waste in Henan, China: A Perceived Value Formation Mechanism Perspective

Environmental pollution as a result of the improper disposal of pesticide packaging wastes (PPWs) has posed serious harm to groundwater, soil and public health. However, few studies focused on PPWs green disposal willingness and behaviors of farmers from the perspective of perceived value. Based on the first-hand data, collected from 635 farmers of grain-producing counties in Henan province of China, through the questionnaire survey method, this paper adopted a structural equation model (SEM) to empirically explore the formation mechanism of perceived value on PPWs green disposal, and green disposal willingness and behaviors were further in-depth investigated. The results showed that the action of farmers' green disposal of PPWs followed the causal relationship, whereby perceived value→behavioral willingness→behavioral performance, and farmers' perceived value came from the comprehensive tradeoff and comparison between perceived benefits and perceived risks. Meanwhile, the perceived benefits and perceived risks could have significant effects on green disposal willingness and behaviors directly and indirectly, among which perceived benefits (0.478) had the greatest positive total effects on the willingness, and perceived risks (-0.362) had the greatest negative total effects on the behaviors. Interestingly, there existed inconsistence between farmers' green disposal willingness and behaviors. When faced with the choice of PPWs green disposal, the farmers were generally risk averse, which resulted in them being more inclined to take conservative behaviors driven by the profit maximization, and even showed the "powerless" state with willingness but no actual action.

Food Safety Risk Information-Seeking Intention of WeChat Users in China

Consumers' food safety risk information-seeking behavior plays a vital role in improving their food quality and safety awareness and preventing food safety risks. Based on the Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model (RISP), this paper empirically analyzes the food safety risk information-seeking intention of consumers in WeChat and influencing factors under the impact of food safety incidents. We use data from 774 WeChat users and apply the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. We also conduct multigroup analysis with demographic characteristics as moderating variables. The results demonstrated that: (1) Risk perception (p ≤ 0.01) has direct significant positive effects on consumers' intention to seek food safety information. Besides, higher risk perception (p ≤ 0.01) regarding food safety risks will make people feel more anxious and threatened, and then expand the gap between the information they need and the relevant knowledge they actually have (p ≤ 0.1), which will further stimulate them to seek more information (p ≤ 0.05). (2) Informational subjective norms (p ≤ 0.01) can not only directly affect consumers' information-seeking about food safety, but also indirectly affect consumers' intention through information insufficiency (p ≤ 0.01). (3) The more consumers trust the relevant channels (p ≤ 0.01), the stronger their intention to search for food safety risk information. Moreover, the multiple-group analysis also shows that the effects of consumers' gender, age, educational background, and average monthly earnings are different among different groups. Furthermore, implications are put forward for food safety risk communication efforts in China.

Farmers’ Intention to Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture in the Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve (Vietnam): A Combination of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT)

Coastal communities living in the low delta areas of Vietnam are increasingly vulnerable to tropical storms and related natural hazards of global climate change. Particularly in the Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve (RRDBR), farmers change the crop structure and diversify agricultural systems to adapt to the changing climate. The paper deals with a quantitative approach combined with behavior theories and surveyed data to analyze farmers’ intention to climate change adaptation in agriculture. Based on the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), seven constructs are developed to a questionnaire surveying 526 local farmers: risk perception, belief, habit, maladaptation, subjective norm, adaptation assessment, and adaptation intention. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is implemented to extract eight factors and to quantify the relationship between protective behavior factors with the adaptation intention of the surveyed farmers. Two bootstrap samples of sizes 800 and 1200 are generated to estimate the coefficients and standard errors. The SEM result suggests a regional and three local structural models for climate change adaptation intention of farmers living in the RRDBR. Farmers show a higher adaptation intention when they perceive higher climate risks threatening their physical health, finances, production, social relationships, and psychology. In contrast, farmers are less likely to intend to adapt when they are subject to wishful thinking, deny the climate risks, or believe in fatalism.

Food allergen knowledge, attitude and practices among UK consumers: A structural modelling approach

Food allergies are becoming more prevalent and affect up to 1-2% of adults and 5-8% of children in the UK. This study investigated the food allergen knowledge, attitude towards food allergens and food allergy management practices among food allergic and intolerant consumers and/or their family members and carers. Questionnaires were distributed at three major Free From events in the UK in 2017 and 2018. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used as a confirmatory technique to determine the model's validity. Cereals containing gluten, milk and eggs were the most common triggers reported by the consumers. Other trigger foods such as chocolate, garlic, maize, onions, red and white meat, spices, and fruits such as apples and cherries were also reported. Consumers demonstrated very good understanding on the severity of allergic reactions, prevention method and hidden egg ingredients. Overall, consumers were relatively good in the knowledge section. The participants were motivated in their personal allergen avoidance towards food allergens especially in checking food labels, preference for more free from product choices and handwashing. Consumers did not rely on dietary apps or social media to find out about allergen-free food products. Both knowledge and attitude did not translate into food allergy management practices. Significant correlation between knowledge and attitude was identified suggesting that as knowledge decreases, so will their attitude scores. This study suggests that targeted and systematic food allergy management topics and peer support could be used to improve consumers' knowledge and attitude to positively impact food allergen handling practices.

Structural modelling of food allergen knowledge, attitude and practices among consumers in Malaysia

The aim of this study was to assess food allergen knowledge, attitude and self-reported practices among consumers in Malaysia. An online survey was conducted and data were analysed using descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis. A model linking food allergen knowledge and attitude and their direct effects on practices were confirmed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Consumers demonstrated moderate food allergen knowledge in this study but scored highly in their attitude towards food allergens. Although participants scored moderately in food allergen knowledge, this does not necessarily translate into practices. There is a possibility that an increase in food allergen knowledge can increase optimistic bias or a sense of over-confidence to manage allergen risks. Consumers' attitude towards food allergens has a positive and significant influence on practices. A positive attitude represents personal beliefs and reflects the level of motivation and care required to manage food allergens effectively. There was insignificant relationship between food allergen knowledge and attitude. This demonstrates a need to tailor targeted risk communication and learning strategies to influence consumers' practices.

Relationships between Safe Pesticide Practice and Perceived Benefits and Subjective Norm, and the Moderation Role of Information Acquisition: Evidence from 971 Farmers in China

Improper use of pesticides among farmers has caused food safety issues which are serious threats to public health in China. A central question concerns how to motivate farmers to self-regulate their pesticide usage. The paper aims to identify the influence of an internal driving factor, i.e., perceived benefits, and an external driving factor, i.e., subjective norm, on farmers’ safe pesticide behaviors, and whether the two factors are moderated by the exposure to information on government policies and the market, based on a sample of 971 farmers selected from 5 Chinese provinces. The results revealed that farmers’ safe pesticide usage was predominately driven by perceived benefits whereas external pressure or subjective norm did not play much of a role. Interaction effects were found between the exposure to market information and perceived benefits, and also between subjective norm and exposure to government policy. Extensions agencies are recommended to effectively convey to farmers the benefits to follow safe pesticide practices. Meanwhile, surveillance and monitoring systems should be established so that the prices of their agricultural products are reflected by the quality of the products.