Prolonged exposure to pesticides can lead to cardiopulmonary disorders, neurological and hematological symptoms, and skin disease. These symptoms can lower productivity because of the farmer’s absence from work during treatment and recuperation and/or impaired capacity to work. Farmers who do not know about the harmful effects of pesticides sometimes overvalue their benefits and use them beyond the private and social optimum levels. In this unique study, an economist and a medical doctor jointly assessed the impact of prolonged pesticide use on farmer health. The study objectives were to identify the types of health impairments caused by long-term pesticide use and to quantify the impairment relative to the level of pesticide use. Detailed medical examinations showed that pesticide users exhibited symptoms of long-term exposure to hazardous chemicals. Econometric analysis showed that the magnitude of chronic health effects and health costs were directly related to pesticide exposure. When health effects were explicitly accounted for, the net benefits of insecticide use were negative.

Socioeconomics Program

Text in English

0302|AL-Economics Program

CIMMYT Staff Publications Collection