WHY DO SMALLHOLDER COTTON GROWERS IN ZIMBABWE ADOPT IPPM? THE ROLE OF PESTICIDE-RELATED HEALTH RISKS AND TECHNOLOGY AWARENESS

In order to test whether farmer training and farmer health risks determine adoption of Integrated Pest and Production Management (IPPM) in Zimbabwe, a Poisson regression model was developed. The empirical analysis uses measures of farmer awareness of IPPM practices, pesticide health risks, labor and capital availability, expected pest damage and other conditioning variables. The results of the analysis show that farmer awareness of IPPM practices is significantly associated with their adoption. Pesticide-related health risks however had no significant influence on the adoption of IPPM technologies. This evidence suggests that the government of Zimbabwe should expand its use of farmer field schools and other farmer-to-farmer approaches that diffuse IPPM awareness.