IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/agecon/v19y1998i1-2p203-217.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pesticide productivity, host‐plant resistance and productivity in China

Author

Listed:
  • David Widawsky
  • Scott Rozelle
  • Songqing Jin
  • Jikun Huang

Abstract

Pesticides are used as the primary method of pest controf in Asian rice production. Conditions in China have led to demand for high and increasing rice yields, resulting in intensive cultivation and adoption of fertilizer responsive varieties. The consequence has been widespread pest infestations. Many studies have estimated pesticide productivity, but few have estimated the productivity of alternative methods ot pest control, namely host‐plant resistance. None have estimated the substitutability between these methods of pest‐control. The productivity of pesticides and host‐plant resistance, and the substitutability between them is measured using two‐stage Cobb‐Douglas and translog production functions. Under intensive rice production systems in eastern China, pesticide productivity is low compared to the productivity of host‐plant resistance. In fact, returns to pesticide use are negative at the margin. Host‐plant resistance is an effective substitute for pesticides and substantial reductions in pesticide use could be achieved, with no loss in rice production, through improvements in host‐plant resistance. These results suggest that pesticides are being overused in eastern China and host‐plant resistance is being underutilized. Government policies to promote increased pesticides in rice might be ill advised given the low productivity and negative returns, particularly in light of well known negative externalities associated with pesticide use.

Suggested Citation

  • David Widawsky & Scott Rozelle & Songqing Jin & Jikun Huang, 1998. "Pesticide productivity, host‐plant resistance and productivity in China," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 19(1-2), pages 203-217, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:19:y:1998:i:1-2:p:203-217
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-0862.1998.tb00527.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0862.1998.tb00527.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1574-0862.1998.tb00527.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lin, Justin Yifu, 1992. "Hybrid Rice Innovation in China: A Study of Market-Demand Induced Technological Innovation in a Centrally-Planned Economy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(1), pages 14-20, February.
    2. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    3. Boisvert, Richard N., 1982. "The Translog Production Function: Its Properties, Its Several Interpretations and Estimation Problems," Research Bulletins 182035, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    4. Putterman, Louis & Chiacu, Ana F., 1994. "Elasticities and factor weights for agricultural growth accounting: A look at the data for China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 191-204.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Zhuo & Huffman, Wallace E. & Rozelle, Scott, 2009. "Farm technology and technical efficiency: Evidence from four regions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 153-161, June.
    2. Ekbom, Anders & Sterner, Thomas, 2009. "Soil Properties and Soil Conservation Investments in Agricultural Production - a Case study of Kenya’s Central Highlands," Working Papers in Economics 340, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    3. Clevo Wilson, 2002. "Private costs and the relation between pesticide exposure and ill health: evidence from Sri Lanka," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 5(3), pages 213-227, September.
    4. Yang, Hong & Zhang, Xiaohe & Zehnder, Alexander J. B., 2003. "Water scarcity, pricing mechanism and institutional reform in northern China irrigated agriculture," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 143-161, June.
    5. Li, Xing & Zhang, Qian & Liu, Yu & Song, Jia & Wu, Feng, 2018. "Modeling social–economic water cycling and the water–land nexus: A framework and an application," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 390(C), pages 40-50.
    6. Jikun Huang & Fangbin Qiao & Linxiu Zhang & Scott Rozelle, 2000. "Farm Pesticide, Rice Production, and Human Health," EEPSEA Research Report rr2000051, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised May 2000.
    7. Wilson, Clevo & Tisdell, Clem, 2001. "Why farmers continue to use pesticides despite environmental, health and sustainability costs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 449-462, December.
    8. Hareau, Guy Gaston & Norton, George W. & Mills, Bradford F. & Peterson, Everett B., 2004. "Potential Benefits Of Transgenic Rice In Asia: A General Equilibrium Approach," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20334, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    9. Managi, Shunsuke, 2006. "Are there increasing returns to pollution abatement? Empirical analytics of the Environmental Kuznets Curve in pesticides," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 617-636, June.
    10. Dakpo, K.H. & Vincent, M. & Boussemart, J.-P., 2018. "Spatial aggregation of land uses allocation and pesticide efficiency at landscape level A Multi-ware production approach," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277258, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Midingoyi, Soul-Kifouly & Affognon, Hippolyte & Macharia, Ibrahim & Leru, Bruno, 2021. "Productivity Effects of Biological Control of Maize Stemborer Pests in Kenya: Damage Control Function Approach," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315385, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Qaim, Matin, 2003. "Bt Cotton in India: Field Trial Results and Economic Projections," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 2115-2127, December.
    13. Yuquan W. Zhang & Bruce A. McCarl & Yibo Luan & Ulrich Kleinwechter, 2018. "Climate change effects on pesticide usage reduction efforts: a case study in China," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 685-701, June.
    14. Huang, Jikun & Hu, Ruifa & Pray, Carl & Qiao, Fangbin & Rozelle, Scott, 2003. "Biotechnology as an alternative to chemical pesticides: a case study of Bt cotton in China," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 55-67, July.
    15. Abdul Rehman & Luan Jingdong, 2017. "An econometric analysis of major Chinese food crops: An empirical study," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1323372-132, January.
    16. Huang, Jikun & Hu, Ruifa & Rozelle, Scott & Qiao, Fangbin & Pray, Carl E., 2002. "Transgenic varieties and productivity of smallholder cotton farmers in China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 46(3), pages 1-21.
    17. Ekbom, Anders & Sterner, Thomas, 2008. "Production Function Analysis of Soil Properties and Soil Conservation Investments in Tropical Agriculture," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-20-efd, Resources for the Future.
    18. Chen, Ruijian & Huang, Jikun & Qiao, Fangbin, 2013. "Farmers' knowledge on pest management and pesticide use in Bt cotton production in china," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 15-24.
    19. Chen, Adam Zhuo & Huffman, Wallace E. & Rozelle, Scott, 2003. "Technical Efficiency Of Chinese Grain Production: A Stochastic Production Frontier Approach," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22116, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    20. Khan, Shahbaz & Hanjra, Munir A. & Mu, Jianxin, 2009. "Water management and crop production for food security in China: A review," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 349-360, March.
    21. Clevo Wilson, 2002. "Private costs and the relation between pesticide exposure and ill health: evidence from Sri Lanka," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 5(3), pages 213-227, September.
    22. Georgios Garbounis & Helen Karasali & Dimitrios Komilis, 2022. "A Life Cycle Analysis to Optimally Manage Wasted Plastic Pesticide Containers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-18, July.
    23. Van den Berg, M. Marrit & Hengsdijk, Huib & Wolf, Joost & Van Ittersum, Martin K. & Guanghuo, Wang & Roetter, Reimund P., 2007. "The impact of increasing farm size and mechanization on rural income and rice production in Zhejiang province, China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 94(3), pages 841-850, June.
    24. Van Dusen, M. Eric, 2000. "In Situ Conservation Of Crop Genetic Resources In The Mexican Milpa System," Dissertations 11941, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huang, Jikun & Rozelle, Scott, 1996. "Technological change: Rediscovering the engine of productivity growth in China's rural economy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 337-369, May.
    2. Marco Stringa & Allan Monks, 2007. "Inter-industry contagion between UK life insurers and UK banks: an event study," Bank of England working papers 325, Bank of England.
    3. Cabral, Joilson de Assis & Freitas Cabral, Maria Viviana de & Pereira Júnior, Amaro Olímpio, 2020. "Elasticity estimation and forecasting: An analysis of residential electricity demand in Brazil," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Fabrizio Rossi & Maretno Agus Harjoto, 2020. "Corporate non-financial disclosure, firm value, risk, and agency costs: evidence from Italian listed companies," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(5), pages 1149-1181, October.
    5. Andrea Boitani & Marcella Nicolini & Carlo Scarpa, 2013. "Do competition and ownership matter? Evidence from local public transport in Europe," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(11), pages 1419-1434, April.
    6. Stefano Magrini & Margherita Gerolimetto & Hasan Engin Duran, 2011. "Understanding the lead/lag structure among regional business cycles," Working Papers 2011_06, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    7. Hanson, Gordon H., 2001. "U.S.-Mexico Integration and Regional Economies: Evidence from Border-City Pairs," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 259-287, September.
    8. Dutta, Dilip & Ghosh, Paritosh Chandra, 2003. "Re-examining Economic Growth-Environment Relationship: Evidence from High-, Medium- And Low-Income Countries," Working Papers 3, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    9. Cooray, Arusha, 2011. "The role of the government in financial sector development," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 928-938, May.
    10. Akbar Ullah & Ejaz Ghani & Attiya Y. Javed, 2013. "Market Power and Industrial Performance in Pakistan," PIDE-Working Papers 2013:88, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    11. Jack Hadley & James Reschovsky & James O’Malley & Bruce Landon, 2014. "Factors associated with geographic variation in cost per episode of care for three medical conditions," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.
    12. Campbell, Randall C. & Nagel, Gregory L., 2016. "Private information and limitations of Heckman's estimator in banking and corporate finance research," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 186-195.
    13. Domenico Depalo, 2020. "Explaining the causal effect of adherence to medication on cholesterol through the marginal patient," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(S1), pages 110-126, October.
    14. C, Loran & Eckbo, Espen & Lu, Ching-Chih, 2014. "Does Executive Compensation Reflect Default Risk?," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2014/11, University of Stavanger.
    15. Giraitis, Liudas & Kapetanios, George & Marcellino, Massimiliano, 2021. "Time-varying instrumental variable estimation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 224(2), pages 394-415.
    16. Herrera, Santiago, 2000. "Determinantes y composición del endeudamiento público en Colombia," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 2110, Inter-American Development Bank.
    17. Agustin J. Ros, 2017. "An Econometric Assessment of Electricity Demand in the United States Using Utility-specific Panel Data and the Impact of Retail Competition on Prices," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    18. Thomas A. Garrett & Russell S. Sobel, 2004. "State Lottery Revenue: The Importance of Game Characteristics," Public Finance Review, , vol. 32(3), pages 313-330, May.
    19. Mehzabin Tuli, Farzana & Mitra, Suman & Crews, Mariah B., 2021. "Factors influencing the usage of shared E-scooters in Chicago," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 164-185.
    20. Wolfson, Paul J. & Kinsey, Jean D. & King, Robert P. & Seltzer, Jonathan M., 2001. "THE SUPERMARKET INDUSTRY AT THE START OF THE 21st CENTURY: KEY FINDINGS FROM THE 2000 SUPERMARKET PANEL," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 32(3), pages 1-13, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:19:y:1998:i:1-2:p:203-217. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.