Identifying determinants of pesticide use behaviors for effective agri-environmental policies: a systematic review

Abstract

Abstract Environmental problems demand for innovative interdisciplinary research to tackle problem complexity and provide insights for problem-solving. Along these lines, behavioral insights have the potential to improve the effectiveness of policies by identifying which behaviors are best tackled and how. In this paper, we present a systematic review of the literature on small-scale farmers’ pesticide use in the Global South to identify (a) pesticide use behaviors and (b) their behavioral determinants. We defined our body of literature by establishing inclusion criteria and screened studies in a two-step process involving multiple coders. From the selected studies (k = 70), we extracted data about farmers’ pesticide use behaviors. We also extracted the determinants of these behaviors with an established framework of behavioral change, the behavior change wheel. Finally, we show how the behavioral insights thus obtained can provide hypotheses on the suitability and ultimate effectiveness of policy instruments for agriculture and environmental protection. Overall, this systematic approach showcases how behavioral insights can be used to systematically gather new knowledge on what works and why in pesticide policy. Additionally, this paper illustrates that the current literature on pesticide use behavior in the Global South lacks standardized and consistent measures of behavior and determinants to provide valid and robust results. Overall, this hampers evidence synthesis and thus scientific progress in the field.