Economic and behavioural effects of farmers’ adoption of integrated pest management practices in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The adoption of integrated pest management practices has been widely promoted in low- and middle-income countries to enhance farmers’ economic outcomes. The main challenge is the lack of quantitative synthesis of scholarly works to ascertain whether, for farmers in these countries, those who adopt a single component or a full bundle of integrated pest management practices achieve higher yields, farm income, food security and reduced pesticide use compared to non-adopters. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) methodology. A total of 24 studies were used for the review based on strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. Meta-analysis was employed to combine the individual and overall effect sizes across these studies. The results indicate that there is evidence that adopting integrated pest management practices has the potential to lead to a large improvement in crop yield for farmers. The findings also reveal that such adoption causes a small effect in food security level, and a moderate to large effect in farm income for farmers. The evidence further suggests that adopting these practices does not directly lead to behavioural change among farmers in reducing synthetic pesticide use. Overall, the findings demonstrate that adopting integrated pest management practices is a promising strategy for improving farmers’ economic outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Policymakers and development partners should not only focus on IPM programmes for economic improvements for farmers, but also address behavioural barriers to ensure effective and consistent adoption for the desired environmental benefits.