Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Iran.
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Iran.
J Environ Manage. 2019 Oct 15;248:109291. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109291. Epub 2019 Jul 25.
Numerous studies have been carried out on pesticide handling practices in agriculture, but drivers of farmers' intentions to use pesticides are not well documented. The main purpose of this study was to explore farmers' intention to use pesticides in agriculture, based on an expanded version of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), with knowledge about pesticides and moral norms as additional constructs in the original TPB model. A sample of 400 cereal farmers of irrigated farmlands of Moghan plain, Iran was selected using multistage cluster sampling. Knowledge about pesticides hazards was the most important variable affecting farmers' intention to use pesticides. Knowledge mainly impacted perceived behavioral control of pesticide use and attitude towards pesticides. Thus, high levels of knowledge about pesticides were linked with greater influence of attitudes towards pesticides on farmers' intention. In turn, perceived behavioral control of pesticide use was affected by moral norms, subjective norms, and attitudes towards pesticide use. Moral norms and subjective norms also affected attitudes towards pesticides. Findings offer new evidence on the interrelationship of several variables in forming farmers' intention to use pesticides in the context of the widely used model of the TPB, for which no data are available in the literature. Promoting knowledge about pesticides is a fundamental step for regulating pesticide use among farmers, probably by stabilizing and rendering farmers' attitudes resistant to change. Moral norms and subjective norms can play a role mainly by affecting perceived behavioral control and attitudes towards pesticides. Combination of educational interventions for upgrading general knowledge about pesticides, with training courses, disincentives, and public awareness campaigns relating to pesticides may improve our ability to affect farmers' behavior.
尽管针对农业中农药处理实践已经开展了大量研究，但农民使用农药意愿的驱动因素并未得到充分记录。本研究的主要目的是基于计划行为理论（TPB）的扩展版本，探索农民在农业中使用农药的意愿，将农药知识和道德规范作为原始 TPB 模型中的附加结构。采用多阶段聚类抽样方法，从伊朗莫甘平原灌溉农田中抽取了 400 名谷类农民作为样本。对农药危害的了解是影响农民使用农药意愿的最重要变量。知识主要影响对农药使用的感知行为控制和对农药的态度。因此，对农药的了解程度越高，对农药的态度对农民使用农药的意愿的影响就越大。反过来，对农药使用的感知行为控制又受到道德规范、主观规范和对农药的态度的影响。道德规范和主观规范也会影响对农药的态度。研究结果为在 TPB 这一广泛使用的模型背景下，形成农民使用农药意愿的几个变量之间的相互关系提供了新的证据，而这在文献中尚无数据。提高对农药的了解是规范农民使用农药的基本步骤，这可能通过稳定和使农民的态度不受变化影响来实现。道德规范和主观规范主要通过影响对农药的感知行为控制和态度来发挥作用。结合提高农药一般知识的教育干预措施，以及与农药相关的培训课程、激励措施和公众意识宣传活动，可能会提高我们影响农民行为的能力。
