Mohammad Sharif Sharifzadeh|Gholamhossein Abdollahzadeh|Christos A. Damalas|Rohollah Rezaei
Farmers’ Criteria for Pesticide Selection and Use in the Pest Control Process
Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources|Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources|Democritus University of Thrace|University of Zanjan
chemical pesticides widely overused farmers iran farmers criteria pesticide selection use well understood field survey 411 farmers carried mazandaran iran study farmers criteria selecting using pesticides pest control process explaining differences selection criteria among farmers list total 25 criteria five main groups identified key decision criteria pesticide selection use using factor analysis groups included performance effectiveness criteria ii awareness information criteria iii technical operational criteria iv environmental criteria v financial accessibility criteria performance effectiveness criteria highest importance farmers selecting using pesticides mean 345 followed financial accessibility criteria mean 328 farmers received training regarding pesticide use mean 223 vs 190 farmers experience integrated pest management ipm practices mean 246 vs 179 tended consider environmental criteria selecting using pesticides similarly farmers experienced health risks related working pesticides mean 20 vs 177 farmers used protection spraying mean 258 vs 187 farmers knew natural enemies pests mean 211 vs 185 tended consider environmental criteria selecting using pesticides farmers without offfarm income tended consider financial accessibility criteria farmers offfarm income mean 340 vs 318 farmers college education favored awareness information criteria whereas experienced farmers favored criteria performance effectiveness farmers high income showed tendency prefer performance effectiveness criteria farmers less income farmers thought pesticides hazardous preferred environmental criteria farmers thought pesticides hazardous farmers believed effectiveness alternatives chemical pest control eg use biological control pheromone traps cultural control preferred performance effectiveness criteria less farmers believed effectiveness slight effectiveness alternatives chemical pest control findings provide useful information better understanding factors affecting farmers choices pesticides improving future extension courses related farmers decisions pesticide use