Estimating the effects of joining cooperatives on farmers’ recycling behaviors of pesticide packaging waste: insights from apple farmers of China

ABSTRACT: The improper disposal of pesticide packaging wastes (PPW) has posed serious harm to the environment, including groundwater and soil pollution and even health concerns to the public. To address the environmental concerns and public health issues, there is a need to recycle the pesticides packaging waste (RPPW). Though small farmers in many developing countries have joined the cooperatives to reduce the production costs and increase the product premium, how these cooperatives improve farmers’ RPPW behaviors is still sparse. The current study used data collected from 725 apple farmers in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces of China to explore the phenomenon empirically. Recycling decisions and degree are used to portray the farmers’ RPPW behaviors. Firstly, the Logit model was used to analyze the effect of joining cooperatives on farmers’ recycling decisions. Further, to address the sample selection bias, the present study employed the propensity score matching (PSM) method for empirical analysis concerning the effect of joining cooperatives on farmers’ recycling degree. Results showed that joining cooperatives positively and significantly influences farmers’ recycling decisions. If farmers join a cooperative, the probability of the recycling decisions and degree will increase by 20.30% and 27.50%, respectively. Moreover, it is also found that some other factors such as education level, environmental and public health risk perception, peer effect, and relationship network also significantly influence farmers’ recycling decisions. Moreover, considering the differences in farmers’ gender, age, and educational attainment, the study unveiled the heterogeneous effects of joining cooperatives on farmers’ RPPW behaviors. The findings revealed that gender and age variables have noticeable masking effects while education level has a typical threshold effect. The overall findings provided insights for policymakers to emphasize the development of agricultural cooperatives, improve the risk and interest linkage mechanism, and build the RPPW system. These implications are also supportive for policymakers in other developing countries.

摘要：农药包装废弃物（pesticide packaging wastes, PPW）的不当处置已对环境造成严重危害，包括地下水与土壤污染，甚至引发公众健康问题。为应对此类环境关切与公共健康议题，亟需开展农药包装废弃物回收（recycle the pesticides packaging waste, RPPW）工作。尽管诸多发展中国家的小农户已通过加入合作社降低生产成本、提升产品溢价，但此类合作社如何改善农户的RPPW行为仍鲜有研究。
本研究采用取自中国陕西、甘肃两省的725名苹果种植户的调研数据，对该现象开展实证探究。以回收决策与回收程度刻画农户的RPPW行为。首先，采用Logit模型分析加入合作社对农户回收决策的影响。进一步，为解决样本选择偏误问题，本研究运用倾向得分匹配（propensity score matching, PSM）方法，就加入合作社对农户回收程度的影响展开实证分析。
结果显示，加入合作社对农户的回收决策具有显著正向影响。若农户加入合作社，其做出回收决策的概率与提升回收程度的概率将分别提升20.30%与27.50%。此外，研究还发现教育水平、环境与公共健康风险感知、同伴效应以及社会关系网络等其他因素，同样会对农户的回收决策产生显著影响。
进一步考虑农户性别、年龄与受教育程度的异质性，本研究揭示了加入合作社对农户RPPW行为的异质性影响。研究表明，性别与年龄变量存在显著的遮掩效应，而教育水平则呈现典型的门槛效应。整体研究结果可为政策制定者提供参考，以推动农业合作社发展、完善风险与利益联结机制，并构建RPPW回收体系。上述研究启示同样可为其他发展中国家的政策制定者提供借鉴。