Environmental awareness as a factor influencing the implementation of agri-environment practices among farmers in Vojvodina Province

Zbog sve brojnijih negativnih posledica dosadašnjih poljoprivrednih praksi na stanje životne sredine, neophodno je hitno ih menjati i prilagoditi ih osetljivosti životne sredine, bez ugrožavanja ostalih zahteva koji se pred poljoprivredu postavljaju (pre svega u pogledu količina i kvaliteta hrane i njene dostupnosti svima). Proces oporavka degradirane životne sredine i devastiranih resursa zahteva angažovanost svih članova društva, uključujući i poljoprivredne proizvođače. Zbog toga je ovo istraživanje imalo za cilj da testira faktore od uticaja na spremnost poljoprivrednih prizvođača da usvoje agroekološke (AE) prakse kojima će smanjiti negativan uticaj poljoprivrednih aktivnosti na životnu sredinu. Dobijeni rezultati pokazali su izuzetno nisku zastupljenost ekološki odgovornih praksi u AP Vojvodini. Zbog toga su u radu testirane namere ispitanika da se u bližoj ili daljoj budućnosti odluče za usvajanje odabranih AE praksi. Za potrebe ovog istraživanja odabrano je pet AE praksi koje bi, sa stanovišta očuvanja najugroženijih prirodnih resursa u AP Vojvodini, a uz zahtev za povećanjem produktivnosti proizvodnje i društvenoekonomske izvodljivosti, bile prikladne za uvođenje. Te prakse su sledeće: primena mineralnih đubriva na osnovu preporuka dobijenih nakon izvršene analize zemljišta, zaoravanje žetvenih ostataka, integralno upravljanje pesticidima i njihova smanjena upotreba, upravljanje elementima pejzaža i organska poljoprivreda. Iako su faktori od uticaja na usvajanje AE praksi brojni, u ovom istraživanju fokus je stavljen na nivo razvijenosti ekološke svesti (ES), jer se pošlo od pretpostavke da je on od suštinskog značaja za istinsku i trajnu održivost poljoprivredne proizvodnje. Testiranje uticaja nivoa razvijenosti ekološke svesti na spremnost ispitanika da usvoje odabrane AE prakse potvrdilo je polaznu hipotezu, odnosno utvrđen je statistički značajan uticaj nivoa razvijenosti ES na namere za primenu odabranih AE praksi. Dobijeni rezultati pokazuju da ES objašnjava 14,36% varijabilnosti u namerama. S obzirom da je taj procenat relativno nizak, testiran je uticaj i drugih faktora. Kao teorijska osnova za to poslužila je (Teorija planiranog ponašanja – TPP) zbog, od strane brojnih autora, dokazanog uticaja njenih konstrukata na namere ka određenim oblicima ponašanja. Izvršena analiza pokazala je da svi konstrukti TPP statistički značajno objašnjavaju varijabilnost u namerama za primenu pet odabranih AE praksi. Pored testiranja uticaja nivoa razvijenosti ES i uticaja osnovnih konstrukata TPP, namere za primenu AE praksi su podvrgnute i drugim statističkim testovima u cilju otkrivanja veza u odnosu na lične karakteristike poljoprivrednih proizvođača obuhvaćenih uzorkom i karakteristike njhovih gazdinstava. Testiranje je pokazalo da postoji statistički značajna razlika u spremnosti na usvajanje AE praksi zavisno od pola, formalnog obrazovanja u oblasti poljoprivrede i kompjuterske pismenosti ispitanika. Pokazalo se, takođe, da su manje spremni da usvoje AE prakse oni ispitanici koji na svojim gazdinstvima organizuju i stočarsku proizvodnju, oni čije je učešće prihoda od poljoprivrede u ukupnim prihodima domaćinstva veće od 60%, oni kod kojih nije sigurno obezbeđen naslednik na gazdinstvu i oni koji ne vode evidenciju o svom poslovanju. Sa druge strane, znanje o AE merama i spremnost na učešće u njima pozitivno koreliraju sa spremnošću poljoprivrednika da usvoje AE prakse. Statistički značajna razlika nije uočena zavisno od ostalih testiranih varijabli - godina života poljoprivrednika, njihovog materijalnog stanja (procenjenog na osnovu poteškoća u plaćanju računa), nivoa obrazovanja, saradnje sa poljoprivrednom savetodavnom službom (PSS), članstva u udruženjima, učestalosti prisustva obukama i kvaliteta zemljišta koje obrađuju. Iako AE mere predstavljaju jedan od sve značajnijih mehanizama zaštite životne sredine u oblasti poljoprivrede, koji je u zemljama EU prepoznat i u čiji razvoj i širenje se ulažu veliki napori, u Srbiji su one u početnoj fazi razvoja i primene. S obzirom da će Srbija u procesima EU integracija, između ostalog, morati da usvoji i u praksu implementira određene AE mere, veoma je važno sagledati stavove i znanje poljoprivrednih proizvođača o AE merama. Kako rezultati anketnog istraživanja pokazuju, poljoprivredni proizvođači nisu dovoljno upoznati sa AE merama i to je svakako prostor na kom se u budućnosti može i mora raditi. Jedan od ciljeva ovog istraživaja bio je upravo i da se daju određene preporuke kreatorima agrarne politike u pogledu uvođenja AE mera. To je omogućeno sagledavanjem stavova i preferencija poljoprivrednih proizvođača jer su identifikovane one prakse koje bi mogle imati najveću primenu u Vojvodini. Pored toga, otkrivene su određene prepreke za veće usvajanje posmatranih praksi od strane poljoprivrednih proizvođača. Upravo na njih je potrebno usmeriti institucionalne napore jer se tako može doprineti većem usvajanju AE praksi od strane proizvođača, a samim tim i pozitivnim efektima na životnu sredinu. DatumDue to an increasing number of negative effects that the current agricultural practices have on the environment, it is necessary to urgently change these practices and adapt them to the environmental vulnerability, but without jeopardizing other aims of agricultural production (primarily in terms of the quantity and quality of food and its availability to all people). The process of recovering the degraded environment and depleted resources requires involvement of all members of the society, including farmers. Therefore, this research aims to examine the factors influencing the readiness of farmers to adopt agri-environment (AE) practices that would reduce the negative effects of agricultural activities on the environment. The obtained results showed that environmentally responsible practices are grossly underused in AP Vojvodina. Therefore, the thesis examines the respondents’ intentions to opt for the selected AE practices in the near or distant future. The research included five AE practices which were considered suitable from the perspective of preservation of the most endangered natural resources in AP Vojvodina on one hand, while increasing productivity of production and socio-economic feasibility on the other hand. These practices are as follows: applying mineral fertilizers on the bases of the results of soil analysis, incorporation of crop residue in the soil, integrated pesticide management and reduced use of pesticides, landscape management and organic agriculture. Although the factors influencing the adoption of AE practices are numerous, the focus in this research was placed on the level of environmental awareness (EA) among farmers, since it was assumed that it is essential for the true and lasting sustainability of agricultural production. Examining the influence of the level of EA on the respondents’ readiness to adopt the selected AE practices confirmed the initial hypothesis by determining a statistically significant influence of the level of EA on the respondents’ intentions to apply the selected AE practices. The obtained results show that EA accounts for 14.36% of the variability in the respondents’ intentions. Since this percentage is relatively low, the influence of other factors was tested, as well. The theoretical basis for these tests was the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) because of the impact of its constructs on the intentions towards certain forms of behavior, which was proven by a number of authors. The performed analysis showed that all TPB constructs statistically significantly account for the variability in the respondents’ intentions to apply the selected five AE practices. In addition to the testing of the influence of the level of EA and the influence of the basic TPB constructs, the farmers’ intentions to apply AE practices were subjected also to other statistical tests in order to discover relations to the personal characteristics of the surveyed farmers and the characteristics of their farms. The tests showed that there is statistically significant difference in the respondents’ readiness to adopt AE practices depending on their gender, formal education in the field of agriculture and computer literacy. The tests also showed that the respondents are less ready to adopt AE practices if they are farmers who also have livestock production on their farms, whose income from agriculture accounts for more than 60% of the total farm income, who do not have a certain successor to their farm and who do not keep records of their business. On the other hand, the farmers’ familiarity with the AE measures and readiness to participate in them is positively correlated with the farmers’ readiness to adopt AE practices. Statistically significant difference was not found for other tested variables: the age of the farmers, their income (estimated by the difficulties the farmers have in paying bills), the level of education, cooperation with agricultural extension service (AES), membership in associations, frequency of attending trainings and the quality of the land they cultivate. AE measures represent one of the most important environmental protection mechanisms in the field of agriculture, and the EU countries recognize them and make great efforts to develop and expand them. However, in Serbia these measures are in the initial stage of development and implementation. Knowing that in the EU integration processes Serbia will have to, among others, adopt and implement certain AE measures, it is very important to gain insight into the farmers’ viewpoints and knowledge on the AE measures. As the results of the survey show, the farmers are not sufficiently familiar with the AE measures, and this is definitely the issue which can and must be worked on in the future. One of the goals of this research was precisely to give specific recommendations to the agricultural policy makers regarding the introduction of AE measures. This goal was achieved by gaining insight into the farmers’ viewpoints and preferences and by identifying the practices that could have the greatest application in Vojvodina. In addition, the research identified certain obstacles for farmers regarding greater adoption of the observed practices. It is these practices that the institutional efforts should be directed at, as this can contribute to the greater adoption of AE practices by the farmers, and consequently to the positive effects on the environment