Abstract
China is one of the developing countries that has experienced rapid growth in herbicide use in the past two decades. However, little information is available on what drive this growing use of herbicides. This study aims for a better understanding of the trend and major factors that affect herbicide use in China. Based on national aggregate data and primary household survey data, this study shows that besides falling herbicide prices, rising wages have been a major driver of this rapid growth since the mid-2000s. Analyses based on household data show that off-farm rural labor employment away from home province contributes to the increasing use of herbicides in wheat and maize production. In addition, irrigation and farmers’ education have significant impacts on herbicide use. With increasing wages and off-farm rural labor employment, we expect herbicide use in China to continue rising.
La Chine est un des pays en voie de développement qui a connu une croissance rapide de l’utilisation des herbicides dans les deux dernières décennies. Cependant, il n’y a pas beaucoup d’information sur cette utilisation plus élevée d’herbicides. Cette étude vise à mieux comprendre cette croissance et les autres facteurs qui influencent l’utilisation des herbicides en Chine. Basées sur des données agrégées et des données d’enquête sur les ménages, cette étude démontre que, ainsi que une chute des prix des herbicides, la croissance des salaires a été une cause déterminante de l’utilisation des herbicides à partir de la moitié des années 2000. Analyses basées sur les données des ménages nous indiquent que les travaux rurales non-agricoles loin de la province d’origine des travailleurs contribuent à l’utilisation d’herbicide dans la production de blé e de maïs. En plus, l’irrigation et l’éducation des agriculteurs influencent significativement l’utilisation des herbicides. Avec la croissance continue des salaires et du travail rurale non-agricole, on s’attend une croissance continue de l’utilisation des herbicides en Chine.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Source: See the footnotes in Appendix Table A1.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baki, B. (2006) Weed Science in the Service of Humanity. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: University of Malaya Press, p. 178.
Beltran, J.C., White, B., Burton, M., Doole, G.J. and Pannell, D.J. (2013) Determinants of herbicide use in rice production in the Philippines. Agricultural Economics 44: 45–55.
Braulke, M. (1982) A note on the nerlove model of agricultural supply response. International Economic Review 23(1): 241–244.
Cai, F. and Du, Y. (2011) Wage increases, wage convergence, and the Lewis turning point in China. China Economic Review 22(4): 601–610.
Dubrovsky, N.M., Burow, K.R., Clark, G.M., Gronberg, J.M., Hamilton, P.A., Hitt, K.J., Mueller, D.K., Munn, M., Nolan, B.T. and Puckett, L.J. (2010) The quality of our Nation’s waters-Nutrients in the Nation’s streams and groundwater, 1992–2004. Circular, 1350. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1350/.
Fleisher, B.M., Fearn, R. and Ye, Z. (2011) The Lewis model applied to China: Editorial introduction to the symposium. China Economic Review 22(4): 535–541.
Freemark, K. and Boutin, C. (1995) Impacts of agricultural herbicide use on terrestrial wildlife in temperate landscapes: A review with special reference to North America. Agricultural Ecosystems Environment 52: 67–91.
GACC (General Administration of Customs of China) (1990–2015) China Customs Statistics Yearbook (in Chinese). Beijing: Modern Publisher.
Gianessi, L. (2013) The increasing importance of herbicides in worldwide crop production. Pest Management Science 69: 1099–1105.
Griliches, Z. (1958) The demand for fertilizer: an economic interpretation of a technical change. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 40(3): 591–606.
Heap, I. (2013) International Survey of Herbicide-Resistant Weeds, http://www.weedscience.org.
Huang, J. and Ding, J. (2016) Institutional innovation and policy support to facilitate small-scale farming transformation in China. Agricultural Economics 47: 1–11.
Li, H., Li, L., Wu, B. and Xiong, Y. (2012) The end of cheap Chinese labor. Journal of Economic Perspectives 26(4): 57–74.
Lichtenberg, E. and Zilberman, D. (1986) The econometrics of damage control: Why specification matters. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 68: 261–273.
Lu, F. (2012) Wage trends among Chinese Migrant Workers: 1979–2010. Chinese Social Science (in Chinese) 7: 47–67.
MCIC (Ministry of Chemical Industry of China) (1990–1992) (including 3 annual yearbook separately) World Chemical Industry Yearbook (in Chinese). Beijing: Information Center of Chinese Chemical Industry Press.
MCIC (Ministry of Chemical Industry of China) (1993) China Chemical Industry Yearbook (in Chinese). Beijing: Information Center of Chinese Chemical Industry Press, p. 110.
MCIC (Ministry of Chemical Industry of China) (1993–2015) (including 23 annual yearbook separately) China Chemical Industry Yearbook (in Chinese). Beijing: Information Center of Chinese Chemical Industry Press.
MOAC (Ministry of Agriculture of China) (2015) China Chemical Industry Yearbook (in Chinese). Beijing: China Agriculture Press, p. 471.
NBSC (National Bureau of Statistics of China) (1991–2015) (including 25 annual yearbook separately) China Statistics Yearbook. Beijing: National Statistics Press.
NBSC (National Bureau of Statistics of China) (2001–2015) (including 25 annual report separately) National Off-farm Rural Workers Survey Report. Beijing: National Statistics Press.
NBSC (Agricultural Division of National Bureau of Statistics of China) (2015) China Yearbook of Agricultural Price Survey. Beijing: National Statistics Press, p. 34.
Pingali, P. (2001) Environmental consequences of agricultural commercialization in Asia. Environment and Development Economics 6: 483–502.
Rohr, J.R. and Mccoy, K.A. (2010) A qualitative meta-analysis reveals consistent effects of atrazine on freshwater fish and amphibians. Environmental Health Perspectives 118(1): 20–32.
Schreinemachers, P., Sringarm, S. and Sirijinda, A. (2010) The role of synthetic pesticides in the intensification of highland agriculture in Thailand. Crop Protection 30(11): 1430–1437.
Wang, X., Huang, J.K., Zhang, L.X. and Rozelle, S. (2011) The rise of migration and the fall of self-employment in rural China’s labor market. China Economic Review 22(4): 573–584.
Zhang, Z. (2003) Development of chemical weed control and integrated weed management in China. Weed Biology Management 3: 197–203.
Zhang, J. (2013) The analysis of herbicide registration status and development trend in China. MSc Thesis (in Chinese), Hebei Agricultural University, China.
Zhang, X., Yang, J. and Wang, S. (2010) China has reached the Lewis Turing Point. Discussion Paper No. 000977, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington D.C.
Zhao, Y. (1999) Leaving the countryside: Rural-to-urban migration decisions in China. American Economic Review 89(2): 281–286.
Zhi, H., Huang, Z., Huang, J., Rozelle, S. and Mason, A.D. (2013) Impact of the global financial crisis in rural China: Gender, off-farm employment, and wages. Feminist Economics 19(3): 238–266.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial supports from the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (71333013) and Ministry of Agriculture of China (2016ZX08015-001).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
See Table A1.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huang, J., Wang, S. & Xiao, Z. Rising Herbicide Use and Its Driving Forces in China. Eur J Dev Res 29, 614–627 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-017-0081-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-017-0081-8