Pesticides and farmer health in Nicaragua

A willingness-to-pay approach to evaluation

authored by

Hildegard Garming, Hermann Waibel

Abstract

A contingent valuation approach to assess the health effects of chemical pesticides among Nicaraguan vegetable farmers is presented. Farmers' valuation of health is measured as their willingness to pay (WTP) for low-toxicity pesticides. Results show that farmers are willing to spend an additional amount of about 28% of current pesticide expenditure for avoiding health risks. The validity of results is established in scope tests and with a two-step regression model. WTP depends on farmers' experience with poisoning, income variables, and current exposure to pesticides. The results can help in designing rural health policies and in the formulation of programmes aiming to reduce the negative effects of pesticides.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Development and Agricultural Economics

Type

Article

Journal

European Journal of Health Economics

Volume

10

Pages

125-133

No. of pages

9

ISSN

1618-7598

Publication date

03.06.2008

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous), Health Policy

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-008-0110-9 (Access: Closed)