Type | Conference Paper - Structural Transformation of African Agriculture and Rural Spaces Conference |
Title | The unintended consequences of agricultural input intensification: Human health implications of agro-chemical use in Sub-Saharan Africa |
Author(s) | |
Publication (Day/Month/Year) | 2015 |
City | Addis Ababa |
Country/State | Ethiopia |
URL | http://barrett.dyson.cornell.edu/files/papers/Sheahan Barrett Goldvale - SSA agrochem and humanhealth paper - STAARS 2015 conference.pdf |
Abstract | While agro-chemicals, like pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides, are often promoted as inputs that increase agricultural productivity by limiting a range of nuisance pests that cause pre-harvest losses, their use may not be without negative human health and labor productivity implications. We explore the relationship between agro-chemical use and the value of crop output at the plot level and a range of human health outcomes at the household level using nationally representative panel survey data from four Sub-Saharan African countries where more than ten percent of main season cultivators use agrochemicals. We find a positive gain in the value of harvest from using agro-chemicals, with similar magnitudes across three of the four countries under study, but also increases in costs associated with human illness, including increased health expenditures related to illness and time lost from work due to sickness in recent past. We motivate our empirical work with a simple dynamic optimization model that clearly shows the role that farmer understanding of these feedbacks can play in optimizing the use of agro-chemicals, which underscores the role of agricultural and public health extension as modern input intensification proceeds in the region. |