Pesticides, Productivity, and Farmer Health: A Philippine Case Study

Abstract

Production data from a farm-level survey were integrated with health data collected from the same population of farmers to measure the impacts of pesticide use on farmer health and the impacts of farmer health on productivity in two rice-producing regions of the Philippines. The relationships were then used in a simulation analysis to investigate the health and productivity tradeoffs implied by a policy to restrict pesticide use. Results show that pesticide use has a negative effect on farmer health, that farmer health has a positive effect on productivity, and that there are likely to be social gains from a reduction in insecticide use in Philippine rice production. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the findings for pesticide policy in developing countries and for allocation of resources in agricultural research. This paper integrates aspects of the health (e.g., Bliss and Stern; Strauss; Deolalikar; Pitt, Rosenzweig, and Hassan) and education (Welch, Schultz) literatures to study the farm productivity effects of health and the health ef-fects associated with on-farm pesticide use. Our approach was implemented in a unique study of rice production and farmer health in two re-gions of the Philippines. Production data from a farm-level survey were integrated with health data collected from the same population of farmers to measure the impacts of pesticide use on farmer health and the impacts of farmer health on productivity. The relationships were then used in a simulation analysis to investigate the health and productivity tradeoffs implied by a policy to restrict pesticide use. Both anecdotal evidence and available data indicate that Philippine farmers do not typically utilize recommended doses of pesticides nor do they utilize the chemical industry's recom-mended practices for safe storage, handling, and application (Wharburton and Palis; Rola and Pingali). One reason for this state of affairs is that effective and safe chemical pest