The determinants of the responsible use of pesticides among date farmers in Qassim region, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Excessive pesticide use in agriculture has caused several negative impact on human health and the environment. Understanding the drivers of pesticide use leads to a responsible use of pesticide and establishing proper guidelines for practitioners. This study assessed the decision-making process for the optimal use of pesticides among date farmers in Saudi Arabia using a cognitive mapping technique. A semi-directive interview was conducted with a random sample of 81 date farmers in the Qassim region. Our results indicate that farmers’ age, experience, and farm size are the most influential factors in their decisions regarding pesticide use. The results also reveal that four variables can be considered the regulating factors in pesticide use: government environmental regulations, risk attitudes, perceived risk, and subjective norms. Finally, gender was found to have no significant influence. Using the upper-echelon theory, this study aims to fill a gap in the research on the association between the personal attributes of farmers and their sustainable behavior regarding the pesticide use.

Keywords:

• Sustainable framing
• responsible use of pesticides
• upper-echelon theory
• cognitive mapping
• Saudi Arabia

Reviewing editor:

• Manuel Tejada
• University of Seville, Spain

SUBJECTS:

• environmental economics
• agriculture & environmental sciences
• environmental studies

1. Introduction

Sustainable agricultural practices are essential for the long-term viability of farming and for protecting the health of the environment and communities. One critical aspect of sustainable agriculture is the responsible use of pesticides (Tian et al., 2021). Farmers can adopt several practices to reduce their reliance on pesticides and minimize their impact on the environment, including: Integrated Pest Management (IPM), crop rotation, cover cropping, reduced tillage, use of natural predators, and use of biopesticides. By adopting these sustainable practices, farmers can reduce their reliance on pesticides, protect the environment, and support the long-term viability of their farms (Magarey et al., 2019). Therefore, it is necessary to direct farmers to adopt clean production policies and rationalize the use of pesticides, in particular in light of the results of studies that show the increasing use of pesticides worldwide and their negative effects.

In fact, the intensity of pesticide use in agricultural products has significantly increased in recent years (Dahal et al., 2020). A vast body of research has shown this fact in various fields, such as rice cultivation (Peng et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2015), cotton (Jin et al., 2015; Liu and Huang, 2013), and vegetables (Zhou and Jin, 2009; Wang et al., 2013). The increase in pesticide use has led to negative health and environmental effects in many countries, including pollution, reduced quality of food and water, increased safety risks, and human health problems (Lai, 2017; Wang et al., 2017; Zhao et al., 2018).

Many researchers, such as (Fan et al., 2015; Rajabi et al., 2013) have confirmed that death and intoxication among farmers are primarily caused by pesticide misuse. Practitioners and experts agree that farmers’ behavior toward pesticide use should be controlled more effectively (Bagheri et al., 2018). The policies and strategies implemented in many developed countries aimed to reduce these effects, but the problem remains. Therefore, studying the factors that would lead to the responsible use of pesticides by farmers is considered a research gap, especially in date-producing countries that have a global standing in this field. This research problem is extremely important, firstly, given the lack of a sufficient number of studies on this topic in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Alokail et al., 2023). Secondly, because identifying the factors that influence farmers’ behavior in the responsible use of pesticides opens the way for enacting policies and making decisions that support these good practices.

Researchers have identified many factors as potential determinants of responsible use of pesticide. Their empirical findings have revealed that knowledge, government regulations, subjective norms, education of household, and perceived risk are the crucial factors having a higher impact on overuse reduction in many Asian countries (Damalas and Khan, 2017; Damalas and Koutroubas, 2017; Fan et al., 2015; Gong et al., 2016; Hashemi et al., 2012; Jallow et al., 2017; Jin et al., 2016; Sharifzadeh et al., 2019). Previous researchers analyzed other factors such as farmer demographics (age, education, level, gender, etc.), production characteristics (crop type, crop volume, farm size, etc.), technical training of farmers, and government alternatives (Chen et al., 2018; Huang et al., 2012; Wu et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2019).

Recent research demonstrates how a manager’s demographics and behavioral attributes, such as age, education, financial knowledge, political ideologies, aptitude, mindset, and environmental behavior, affect their assistants and lead to collective actions that promote sustainability, environmental performance, and environmental disclosure (Shahab et al., 2020).

In summary, previous studies indicate that there are thirteen factors influencing the responsible use of pesticides. The first factor is the pesticide knowledge refers to the degree of farmers’ understanding of pesticide toxicity (Nie et al., 2018). The second factor is subjective norms that refers to the perceived social pressure or influence to behave in a certain way (Ajzen, 2004; Gong et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2019). The third factor is the education level of farmers since several studies have considered education an effective tool for reducing pesticide overuse (Bagheri et al., 2019; Gong et al., 2016; Jacquet et al., 2011; Ricco et al., 2018). Farmers’ age is also a critical demographic characteristic, which plays an essential role in pesticide application (Berni et al., 2016; Damalas & Abdollahzadeh, 2016) as well as gender and experience (Hashemi et al., 2012; Jallow et al., 2017; Ma et al., 2017; Pan et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2017).

The farm size, the fertilizer use and soil fertility can be considered as a solid determinants of pesticides use (Cai et al., 2021; Fargnoli et al., 2019; Rezaei et al., 2020; Sanusi et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2018). On the other hand, there are some behavioural determinants of responsible use of pesticides, namely, perceived risks; risk attitudes and moral norms (Kaiser and Scheuthle, 2003; Sharifzadeh et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2018). Finally, previous literature documents that governmental regulations and strategies against pesticide overuse can positively impact pesticide use in various agricultural products. In this study, we will rely mainly on three theories: upper-echelon theory, human capital theory, and the theory of planned behavior, as we will test the possibility of an actual impact of the thirteen variables identified in previous studies on the commitment of date farmers in the Qassim region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to use Pesticides in responsible way.

The Qassim province, located in the center of Saudi Arabia, hosts beyond eight million palm trees, rendering it as one of the Middle East’s largest producers of dates, with an estimated 200 thousand tons of various kinds of valuable dates produced annually (Amin et al., 2023; Egal, 2023). Focusing on the issue of responsible use of pesticides by date producers in the Qassim region is of particular importance, given what was found in the study of Abdullah et al. When these researchers analyzed 200 samples of date fruits collected from several large markets in different areas of the Qassim region, they found that pesticide residues were present in 18% of them, and 7.5% of the sample exceeded the maximum levels of residues.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is making significant efforts in the field of agricultural sustainability by taking several measures and enacting laws in this field. This effort is evident through its adoption of Vision 2030. The vision is based on several goals, including environmental and sustainability in the field of agriculture (Ben Fatma et al., 2024).

Saudi Arabia has also been taking steps to promote sustainable agriculture practices and reduce the impact of pesticides on the environment. The country has implemented several initiatives and programs to encourage farmers to adopt sustainable practices, including: The Saudi Organic Farming Association (SOFAT) encourages farmers to adopt sustainable practices, including reducing pesticide use and promoting biodiversity. The Saudi Arabian Agricultural Bank provides financing and support to farmers who adopt sustainable practices, including reducing pesticide use and improving soil health. By promoting sustainable agriculture practices and reducing the impact of pesticides on the environment, Saudi Arabia is taking important steps towards a more sustainable and resilient agricultural sector. These initiatives can help protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and support the long-term viability of the country’s farming communities.

In this research, we sought to identify the factors that may be directly related to the degree of commitment of date farmers to the proper use of pesticides by studying farmer perception using the cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification "MICMAC" for mind mapping and analysis.

2. Methodology

2.1. The study area

The study was conducted in the Qassim region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Al-Qassim is considered one of the largest regions in Saudi Arabia. The Qassim region is located in the center of the northern part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is bordered to the north and northwest by the Hail region, to the east by the Eastern Region, to the south by Al-Sir and Al-Washm, which belong to the Riyadh region, and to the west by the Medina region and Hail.

The area of the Qassim region is 70,300 km², between the central and northern regions. It is characterized by the abundance of groundwater and the presence of rich agricultural oases that supply the Kingdom and the Arabian Gulf with the finest types of dates, vegetables and fruits. In fact, Qassim is a worldwide date producer, producing approximately 370,000 tons per year with 12,000 date farms across the region producing 13 different date products (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Map of the study area.

2.2. The cognitive mapping technique

In this study, we used a methodology based on drawing and analyzing cognitive maps. Mind maps have been long used to study the perception of individuals about a topic, phenomenon, or problem.

According to Axelrod (1976), mind maps have been used for various purposes, for instance, to investigate the social economy and political decision making. By studying the numerous elements that influence cognition, Eden (2004) revealed that mind maps can reflect people’s perceptions. They enable researchers to understand how concepts are interrelated and arranged according to their relative importance in a person’s mind (Ben Fatma et al., 2021; Bueno and Salmeron, 2009; Nassreddine and Anis, 2014).

Thus, we used mind maps to investigate the factors influencing farmers’ decisions to the responsible use of pesticides in Saudi Arabia. We examined 13 variables that were previously described to investigate their association with responsible use of pesticide.

Mind maps are used in preliminary research to determine the effect of a variable on a particular phenomenon. This method can be particularly useful when researching sensitive topics such as pesticide use, mainly because it does not require a quantitative measurement of pesticide use. Thus, it helps to avoid direct questions from farmers, which may lead them to deny their use of pesticides or understate the number of pesticides by providing a standard value.

Therefore, we did not quantitatively measure the use of pesticides and instead used mind maps to analyze the influencing factors in responsible use of pesticide and their various associations.

2.3. Cognitive map analysis

Mind maps are commonly divided into individual maps and grouped maps (Ben Fatma et al., 2021). There is also a relationship between these two types. From a methodological point of view, individual mind maps are first drawn, and then arithmetic means are used to create a mental map that highlights the point of view of all the respondents on a specific issue.

There are several methods for drawing mind maps. In this study, a questionnaire was distributed to a sample of farmers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, asking them to fill in a matrix with most of the variables previously shown to have a potential impact on the responsible use of pesticide. We chose this method because it is easier than other mind-mapping techniques (Ben Fatma et al., 2021).

Therefore, we designed a matrix (13 × 13) containing all the variables previously discussed in the theoretical section to determine which ones are associated with the responsible use of pesticides by farmers.

According to Harary et al. (1965), an adjacency matrix is a squared matrix that depicts the relationships between all the variables used as potential explanations for a certain phenomenon. A square matrix is mainly used to define a finite graph and is also known as a connection matrix because it has columns and rows.

As shown in Table 1, the adjacency matrix is composed of a set of i terms on the horizontal axis and j variables on the vertical axis. The value of a_ij reflects the association between variable i and variable j. The value of a_ij denotes the number of edges from the vertex i to j.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics (n = 81).

Variables	Class	Frequency	Percentage
Age	≤ 30	11	0.135
	31-40	19	0.235
	41-50	18	0.222
	51-60	25	0.308
	> 60	8	0.098
Gender	Male	71	0.876
	Female	10	0.124
Education level	No Formal Education	17	0.209
	Primary	20	0.247
	Secondary	18	0.222
	Tertiary	26	0.321
Experience	≤ 5	24	0.296
	5-10	16	0.197
	11-15	18	0.222
	> 15	23	0.284

The adjacency matrix is filled with four values, ranging from zero to three. If variable i has a weak effect on variable j, a_ij = 1. If the effect is medium, a_ij = 2. A strong effect is defined as a_ij = 3. Finally, in the absence of any effect, a_ij = 0.

To obtain a mind map that collects all farmers’ perceptions on the determinants of the responsible use of pesticide, an adjacency matrix was filled by each farmer, and the resulting matrices were then summed to draw an aggregated mind map.

MICMAC software was used for mind map analysis. Specifically, we used an influence–dependence chart after centrality analysis.

Centrality analysis is used to determine a particular system’s most essential variables. This helped us to identify the most critical variables among the 13 variables influencing the responsible use of pesticides.

The total number of shortest pathways passing through a conceptual node is counted to determine its relevance within the system as a whole (Bavelas, 1948; Freeman, 1977). This method can provide evidence for the significance of each concept in the system (Ben Fatma et al., 2021; Piraveenan et al., 2013).

In the second stage of the analysis, we used an influence–dependence chart, which was directly derived from the adjacency matrix using MICMAC. Thus, four types of variables were easily identified on the chart (Ben Fatma et al., 2021; Garg and Thakur, 2021; Heilgeist et al., 2022; Kaur et al., 2022; Omri and Frikha, 2014), which are discussed below.

• Determinant variables: These variables are considered the most influential on the responsible use of pesticides, due to their significant effect on the rest of the variables in the system. At the same time, they are less affected by other variables. These variables are indicated in the first box of the chart and are located in the upper-left corner of the perception chart.

• Relay variables: These variables not only significantly impact the rest of the variables but are also affected by them. Any change in relay variables leads to a change in the entire system. These variables are located in the upper-right corner of the chart. Research on the nature of these variables indicates that they are a source of instability in any system. Knowing these variables is necessary to understand the factors that can be used to move the system to a desired destination.

• Dependent variables: These variables do not have a significant impact on other variables in the system but are highly affected by them. Therefore, they are known as result variables, which are considered system outputs and not directly used in the interpretation of the studied phenomenon.

• Excluded variables: Located in the lower-left corner of the influence–dependence chart, these variables have little influence and dependence, compared with other variables in the system. They are considered independent variables and should be excluded.

2.4. The sample

The study sample consisted of 81 date farmers from the Qassim region, Saudi Arabia. The sample size meets the requirements for applying the MICMAC method, as studies in this field indicate that a sample size equal to 12 is considered sufficient to ensure the quality of the analysis and the generalization of the results (Al-Esmael et al., 2020; Arcade et al., 1994; Barati et al., 2019; Ioannis Chatziioannou et al., 2023; Jain et al., 2018).

After a literature review, the factors affecting farmers’ behavior regarding responsible use of pesticide were identified, and then we designed a matrix containing the 13 most influential variables. This matrix was submitted to the Scientific Research Ethics Subcommittee for approval to distribute it during interviews with farmers.

Semi-directive interviews were conducted, during which the research problem and objectives were presented. The participants were informed that their information would not be used for purposes other than conducting this research. These interviews were conducted over three months due to the limited time and preoccupation of the farmers.

3. Results

This section presented results reached using the MICMAC analysis method. The use of mind maps and the MICMAC analysis method is important to understand the factors that govern the decision of date producers about the responsible use of pesticides. This explains the importance of this type of qualitative studies that seek to understand the underlying factors that could affect the behavior of date producers in how to use pesticides. In fact, awareness of these factors makes it possible to control them and guide farmers towards the responsible use of pesticides.

3.1. Sample characteristics

Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics, indicating a heterogeneous sample with differences in the characteristics of farmers in terms of age, educational level, gender, and farming experience.

Based on these data, 22.2% of the respondents were between the ages of 41 and 50, 23.5% were between 31 and 40, 30.8% were between 51 and 60 years of age, 13.5% had less than 30 years of age, and 9.8% were more than 60 years old (Table 1). Concerning the gender, Male farmers (87.6%) were more than their female counterparts (12.4%).

In terms of education, 20.9% of farmers had no formal education, while 24.7% had only primary education. Only 22.2% of the farmers had secondary education, compared with 32.1% who had tertiary education. The table shows that farmers with less than 5 years of experience represented 29.6% of the respondents, 19.7% had between 5 and 10 years, 22.2% had between 11 and 15 years, and 28.4% had more than 15 years of experience.

3.2. The centrality analysis based on variable influences

As shown in Table 2, farmers’ age and farm size were the most influencing factors, with age having the highest impact on the use of pesticides, according to the responses of the participants. These results are consistent with those reported in the literature on the responsible use of pesticides, indicating that age affects several factors related to pesticide use, such as knowing how to properly use pesticides, realizing their risks, and knowing how to protect oneself from their harmful effects.

Table 2. The centrality analysis based on variable influences.

Rank:	Variables:
1	Farmers ‘age
2	Farm size
3	Perceived risk
4	Government environmental regulations
5	Subjective norms
6	Farmers’ experience
7	Risk attitudes
8	Pesticide knowledge
9	Farmers’ education level
10	Fertilizer use
11	Moral norms
12	Gender
13	Soil fertility

During an in-depth interview with the participants about the impact of their farm size, they generally acknowledged that farm size directly affects the responsible use of pesticides. Usually, with an increase in the farm area, pesticides are not excessively used for several reasons, including the difficulty of using large quantities of pesticides due to their cost and also because large farmland owners are very concerned about their reputation. This result corroborates the empirical findings of Gao et al., (2021), who found farm size to be a key factor in pesticide overuse in China. Small and fragmented farms increase the use of pesticides.

The results of the centrality analysis conducted using the MICMAC software also reveal that the perceived risk of pesticides, government environmental regulations, and subjective norms are of interest and can explain the responsible use of pesticide in the Saudi context. However, soil fertility and gender did not have any significant influence.

In summary, the farmer’s age is the most influential factor in the rest of the variables that explain the responsible use of pesticides, and this is logical since the farmer’s decisions and perception of risks are affected by his age. Increasing age usually means increasing experience and more maturity in making decisions. The size of the farm also appears to have an impact on the majority of the study variables, and this can be explained through legitimacy theory, which sees a positive relationship between the size of the farm or company and its need to gain legitimacy through good practices such as the responsible use of pesticides.

3.3. The centrality analysis according to variable dependences

Using the MICMAC software, the study variables were also classified according to their degree of independence. This type of analysis arranged variables according to the degree of their capacity to receive influences from other variables that explain the responsible use of pesticides on date farms. These variables usually have a secondary role in explaining the phenomenon studied.

Table 3 shows that farmers’ moral norms, knowledge of pesticides, subjective norms, and education level were the most affected variables that could explain pesticide use. These variables had an indirect impact on farmers’ decisions about the number of pesticides they use.

Table 3. The centrality analysis according to variable dependences.

Rank:	Variables:
1	Moral norms
2	Pesticide knowledge
3	Subjective norms
4	Farmers’ education level
5	Perceived risk
6	Government environmental regulations
7	Fertilizer use
8	Farm size
9	Risk attitudes
10	Soil fertility
11	Farmers’ age
12	Gender
13	Farmers’ experience

In summary, we concluded that the demographic characteristics of farmers are the least affected, as they come in the last three ranks. In contrast, behavioral factors rank at the top.

3.4. The direct influence–dependence map analysis

Given the influence–dependence map in Figure 2, we found that farmers’ age was the main factor with a direct and significant impact on the behavior of farmers regarding the use of pesticides, which was the highest among the thirteen factors discussed previously.

Figure 2. The direct influence–dependence map.

This result provides evidence of the ability of farmers’ age to solely affect the responsible use of pesticides. Thus, more studies are needed to investigate whether the effect is positive or negative. The age group associated with the responsible use of pesticides should also be identified to implement measures to educate them on the harmful effects of pesticides and the need for reduced pesticide use.

On the other hand, Figure 2 shows that farmers’ experience can also play an essential role in the responsible use of pesticide. This variable is located in the upper-left corner of the chart, meaning that it has a significant role in explaining the studied phenomenon.

This result is consistent with the findings of Khan and Damalas, (2015), indicating that the experience of farmers is a decisive factor in the use of pesticides, as they learn pesticide use techniques through direct experience.

It is also observed that farm size and risk attitudes are on the line separating determinant and relay variables. An indirect influence–dependence map was also plotted to evaluate the extent to which these variables can be relied upon as factors directly influencing the responsible use of pesticide.

The map showed that government laws regarding respect for the environment are influential and can influence farmers’ behavior in adopting responsible use of pesticides. These results support what we hypothesized about the ability of these laws to guide farmers’ behavior (Zhu and Wang 2021).

We also found that three behavioral factors are considered linking factors between the system’s various variables: perceived risk, risk attitude, and subjective norms. In fact, according to the theory of planned behavior, these variables are what influence and direct an individual’s behavior (Ajzen, 2004).

We note that the variables found in the third quadrant are considered factors that have a secondary effect and can explain the studied phenomenon: farmers’ knowledge of pesticides, their level of education, moral norms, fertilizer use, and soil fertility. As shown previously in the centrality analysis, these variables are received variables (Ben Fatma et al., 2021). Finally, the age of farmers is considered as excluded variable since it doesn’t have any impact on responsible use of pesticides. Finally, the age of farmers is considered an excluded variable since it doesn’t affect the responsible use of pesticides.

3.5. The indirect influence–dependence map

Through the indirect influence–dependence map in Figure 3, we found that only the farm size could be considered a determinant variable and thus directly explain the phenomenon of responsible use of pesticide, whereas risk attitude was a relay variable.

Figure 3. The indirect influence–dependence map.

Thus, only farmers’ age, experience, and farm size were the factors significantly associated with the possibility of pesticide responsible use among farmers. However, these variables cannot be easily controlled to reduce the use of pesticides because the measures implemented by decision makers cannot affect age, farm size, or experience due to their nature.

Using the direct and indirect influence–dependence maps, four variables were found to have a direct influence on the whole system and therefore could be proactively considered to limit pesticide overuse since they represent relay variables, namely government environmental regulations, farmers’ risk attitudes, perceived risk of pesticides, and subjective norms.

In practice, it is possible to focus more on educating farmers and providing them with the latest legislation and updates related to the use of pesticides in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The media can play an important role in clarifying legislation on environmental protection. Sensitization measures and educational programs on the harmful effects of pesticide overuse will increase farmers’ sensitivity and awareness of the risks associated with pesticides, thus leading to a reduction in their application.

Family, relatives, and friends have a significant role in guiding farmers to reduce the use of pesticides. Therefore, awareness programs should target all members of society since those in direct contact with farmers can induce them to avoid pesticide overuse and follow a responsible use of pesticides. Through these measures, farmers’ awareness of the influence of risk attitudes on the avoidance or overuse of pesticides should be maximized.

Each direct and indirect influence–dependence map had five dependent variables: moral norms, pesticide knowledge, education level, fertilizer use, and soil fertility. These variables had a high degree of dependence but could not significantly affect the rest of the variables in the system.

These variables were characterized by strong driving and dependence power (Garg and Thakur, 2021; Rautela et al., 2022) and thus could be used to explain the responsible use of pesticides, but their effect was limited compared with the previous variables in the first and second quadrants.

Four variables should be considered to enhance the responsible use of pesticides: government environmental regulations, farmers’ risk attitudes, perceived risk of pesticides, and subjective norms. The nature of these variables facilitates their monitoring and control. Farmers’ education and knowledge of how to properly use pesticides are easily enhanced through training or awareness courses in this field.

Finally, farmers’ gender was excluded from the analysis, as this factor did not influence the responsible use of pesticides (Garg and Thakur, 2021; Heilgeist et al., 2022; Kaur et al., 2022).

4. Discussion

4.1. Findings

The present study aimed to determine the factors affecting the responsible use of pesticide among farmers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research is considered timely since the Kingdom is moving towards achieving Vision 2030, in which sustainability is prioritized. The methodology used in this study is based on building mind maps to analyze the responsible use of pesticides.

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to address the determinants of responsible use of pesticides using perception analysis through mind mapping. We limited our analysis to the most important factors previously shown to influence the responsible use of pesticides and tested their effectiveness through centrality analysis and an influence–dependence map.

Our results show that all of the proposed variables can explain responsible use of pesticide except farmers’ age, which was excluded. In particular, the results indicate that farmers’ age, experience, and farm size are the most influential factors in farmers’ behavior regarding pesticide use. Our findings corroborate the results of Peng et al. (2009); Berni et al. (2016); Damalas and Abdollahzadeh (2016) and Sharifzadeh et al. (2019), indicating that farmers’ age is a crucial factor affecting farmers’ decisions on the responsible use of pesticide. It also confirms the previous findings of Hashemi et al. (2012) and Wang et al. (2017), in which farmers’ gender was considered not significant when discussing the determinants of pesticide overuse. Finally, our empirical findings indicated that farm size can play a central role in increasing pesticide use.

We also found that four basic variables can be considered controlling factors that can regulate pesticide use: government environmental regulations, risk attitudes, perceived risk, and subjective norms. Our findings are in agreement with previous reports (Grovermann et al., 2017; Jiang et al., 2017; Zhao et al., 2018), which confirmed that environmental regulations can largely influence farmers’ behaviors regarding the responsible use of pesticides in agriculture. It is also in line with the findings of Zhang et al. (2018), in which farmers’ risk attitudes were found to be associated with the probability of pesticide overuse. As indicated by Damalas, (2021), the perceived risk is an important factor that can govern pesticide use. Finally, our empirical findings support previous results by Govindharaj et al. (2021), indicating that subjective norms can contribute to the reduction in pesticide use.

4.2. Implications of the study

In light of this study’s results, decision-makers should consider factors that impact pesticide use when implementing strategies to prevent and control this problem to avoid the possibility of farmers using pesticides excessively.

Pesticide use regulations are among the important factors that can affect the behavior of farmers through the implementation of requirements on the proper use of pesticides and limitations on quantities. Decision makers in this field must review the adequacy of these laws and ensure that farmers understand and meet these requirements. Awareness initiatives are also important to reduce pesticide use. It is imperative to clarify the risks of the excessive use of pesticides, to farmers and all members of society, because this will directly affect two relay factors: perceived risk and subjective norms.

On the other hand, farmers’ educational level and knowledge of pesticides, moral norms, and fertilizer use were the dependent variables. They did not have a strong and direct influence on the responsible use of pesticides. Finally, we found that the farmers’ gender had no effect on the use of pesticides and was considered an excluded variable. This means decision makers do not need to consider gender differences in their initiatives for minimizing pesticide overuse. In this context, our results are not consistent with the results of (Hashemi et al., 2012; Jallow et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2017).

4.3. Limitations and future directions of research

This study has some limitations, the most important of which is the size of the sample. Therefore, a larger sample size should be considered in order to ensure the possibility of generalizing these results even though the literature on the use of MICMAC software indicates that a sample of 12 farmers is enough to ensure the quality of analysis and results (Al-Esmael et al., 2020; Arcade et al., 1994; Barati et al., 2019; Ioannis Chatziioannou et al., 2023; Jain et al., 2018). A more comprehensive study should clarify the nature of the independent variables proven to play a fundamental role in the decision of farmers to use pesticides in a responsible way and whether they have a direct impact on other variables.

Finally, we only discussed the potential influence of 13 factors, and therefore, the effect of other variables related to technology and its impact on the reduction in pesticide use should be considered in future studies. The introduction of behavioral factors, such as dispositional optimism, overconfidence, and other psychological biases, can also be of interest in the issue of the responsible use of pesticide.

5. Conclusion

This study focused on identifying the factors influencing the responsible use of pesticides by date producers in the Qassim region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It used a methodology based on drawing and analyzing mind maps using the MICMAC software. By studying date farmers’ perception of the issue of responsible use of pesticides, it was found that, as we assumed, three fundamental factors strongly influence farmers’ behavior in the field of pesticide use, which are the farmer’s experience, his age, and the size of his farm. The study also demonstrated that the farmer’s educational level, knowledge of pesticides, use of fertilizers, and soil fertility can influence the responsible use of pesticides, but to a lesser extent than previously mentioned factors. Finally, contrary to previous studies, gender has no effect on the responsible use of pesticides by date farmers in the study sample.

Institutional review board Statement

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee, Qassim University, protocol code 22-06-05 and date of approval 03 October 2022.

Authors contributions

Conception and design: Ezzeddine Ben Mohamed; Anis Jarboui. Analysis and interpretation of the data: Ezzeddine Ben Mohamed, Nassreddine Garoui and Saber Ibrahim; the drafting of the paper: Ezzeddine Ben Mohamed, Anis Jarboui and Wajih Abbassi. Revising it critically for intellectual content: Ahmad Al Salman, Ezzeddine Ben Mohamed and Anis Jarboui and the final approval of the version to be published: Ezzeddine Ben Mohamed, Nassreddine Garoui, Saber Ibrahim, Ahmad al Salman and Anis Jarboui. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Qassim University, the Deanship of Scientific Research, for the financial support of this research under the number (10237-cbe-2020-1-3-I) during the academic year 1442AH/2020 AD.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability Statement

Data are available on request from the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is funded by Qassim University, the Deanship of Scientific Research. Grant number: 10237-cbe-2020-1-3-I