Health effects and pesticide perception as determinants of pesticide use : evidence from Bangladesh /
Susmita Dasgupta.
- Washington, D. C : World Bank, 2005.
- 19p : ill. ; 28 cm.
- Policy research working papers ; no. 3776 .
Also available online. "In a recent survey of 820 Boro (winter rice),potato, ban, eggplant, cabbage, sugarcane, and mango farmers in Bangladesh, over 47 percent of farmers were found to be overusing pesticides. With only 4 percent of farmers formally trained in pesticide use or handling, and over 87 percent openly admitting to using little or no protective measures while applying pesticides, overuse is potentially a threatening problem to farmer health as well as the environment. To model pesticide overuse, the authors used a 3-equation, trivariate probity framework, with health effects and misperception of pesticide risk as endogenous dummy variables. Health effects (the first equation)were found to be strictly a function of the amount of pesticides used in production, while misperception of pesticide risk (the second equation)was determined by health impairments from pesticides and the toxicity of chemi