The use of pesticides in Polish agriculture after integrated pest management (IPM) implementation

Abstract

The aim of the conducted study was to characterize the attitudes and practices of Polish farmers in the area of performing chemical plant protection treatments. A particular attention was paid to identifying the relationship between the direction of changes in the volume of chemical plant protection product consumption and selected attributes of farms. The main time range of the analyses covered the period of 2013-2017. Statistical data and results of representative surveys carried out on a sample of 1101 farms in Poland were used in the research process. Due to the large number of variants of the analysed variables, a multiple correspondence analysis was used, which made it possible to determine the correlation between the examined features (direction of changes in pesticide use relative to the farm area, economic size of the farm and location of the farm). Statistical analysis showed the existence of strong relationships between the physical (1) and economic (2) size of farms and the direction of changes in pesticide consumption ((1) φ² = 0.0907; (2) φ² = 0.1141)). According to empirical studies, the reduction of pesticide consumption took place mainly on the smallest farms. The implementation of the integrated plant protection directive has not resulted in significant changes in the form of reduced pesticide use in large-scale field crops. This raises the need to modify the strategy and model of crop protection in large-scale field crops in Poland.

Keywords: Chemical plant protection; Integrated pest management (IPM); Multiple correspondence analysis (MPA).

Fig. 1.

Main food producing areas in Poland and spatial extent of field studies. Source: Own elaboration based on https://www.igipz.pan.pl/tl_files/igipz/ZGWiRL/ARP/01.Znaczenie%20rolnictwa%20w%20gospodarce%20Polski.pdf (accessed 13.07.2020)

Fig. 2.

Market share and position of Poland in the classification in terms of the production volume of selected agricultural products in the European Union in 2018. Source: Statistical Yearbook of Agriculture, Statistics Poland, Warsaw

Fig. 3.

Average use of pesticides per area of cropland from 2014 to 2018 in European countries. Source: Authors’ own elaboration based on http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/EP/visualize (accessed 14.10.2020)

Fig. 4.

Sales of plant protection products in Poland. Deliveries on the domestic market by producers and importers; from 2018 by holders of the authorization of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for the marketing of plant protection products. Source: Authors’ own elaboration based on Means of production in agriculture in the 2018/19 farming year. Statistics Poland, Warsaw

Fig. 5.

Respondents’ declarations regarding practical aspects of performing plant protection treatments. Source: Own study based on questionnaire surveys (N = 1101)

Fig. 6

Graphic presentation of the results of the correspondence analysis of the direction of changes in the level of pesticides use with the analysed features of agricultural holdings. Source: Own study based on questionnaire surveys (N = 1101)