Pesticide retailers’ preferences for sustainability standard attributes: evidence from Nepal

Purpose Voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) are considered one of the potential mechanisms for promoting agricultural sustainability and mitigating environmental problems, such as pesticide risks. While consumer and farmer preferences for sustainability standards have been well documented in the literature, the preferences of other important agri-food supply chain actors (such as input suppliers, traders, processors and retailers) have received much less attention. In this paper, we investigated pesticide retailers’ perspectives on a hypothetical VSS scheme intended to promote environmentally friendly plant protection products. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a discrete choice experiment among 538 pesticide retailers in Nepal. Mixed logit models were used to estimate pesticide retailers’ preferences for VSS attributes. Findings Pesticide retailers prefer VSSs that provide training opportunities, with a greater value attached to face-to-face training than e-learning. We found evidence that the potential to minimise the risks of pesticides to human and environmental health through VSSs is highly appreciated by the pesticide retailers. However, the results suggested that the retailers perceive a competitive disadvantage from selling only lower-risk pesticide products; hence, there is a lack of support for restricting the sale of highly hazardous pesticides, particularly among those currently selling biopesticide products. Research limitations/implications Pesticide retailers value VSSs as a potential mechanism to minimise the risks of pesticides to human health and the environment. Originality/value Our study focused on pesticide retailers, who are an important yet often-overlooked agribusiness actor in the sustainability standard literature. We highlighted some potential strategies for incentivising the uptake of environmentally friendly pesticides.