Résumé
Farmers’ main reasons for using pesticides are, first, to increase the expected value of crop yields and, second, to insure against the risk of production variability. Using simulated data, we show that, under fairly representative conditions on the technology and risk preferences, the increase in expected yield is the primary driver of pesticide use. For moderate to high risk-averse farmers, only 5 to 15% of the optimal input use is devoted to risk management. This calls for a tax on pesticide to be preferred to insurance premium subsidisation if the aim is to incentivise farmers to reduce pesticide use.