Does outsourcing pest control service adopted by farmers restrain their opportunistic behavior of disobeying specified pest control regulation in certified-vegetable planting areas?

Ensuring the quality and safety of agricultural products and managing pesticide residues have become global issues, particularly in developing countries, small farmers’ dynamic, the standardized use of pesticides, and the regulation of pest control behavior by small farmers remain a significant challenge. In China, the opportunistic behavior of farmers in certified vegetable areas who disobey specified pest control regulation, has led to issues such as frequent incidents of agricultural product quality and safety and prominent contradiction between the supply and demand of high-quality agricultural products. However, in recent years, the emergence of the outsourcing pest control service (OPCS) has provided a new idea for transforming pest control methods of smallholder farmers. This study based on survey data from certified vegetable areas of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia provinces in China, investigates the impact of outsourcing pest control services on the opportunistic behavior in pest control of farmers in certified-vegetable areas. The results of the study are as follows: First, the adoption of OPCS can significantly restrain the opportunistic behavior of farmers in certified vegetable areas. Second, the study found that when farmers purchase full-package services, the OPCS organization uses advanced pesticide equipment, and the service settlement opts for a fixed service price model, they are more likely to significantly reduce opportunistic behavior in pest control among certified farmers. Third, in the implementation of OPCS, factors such as farmers’ providing pesticides, farmers’ supervising OPCS operations, and signing a pest control service contract are associated with a stronger restraining effect on opportunistic behavior in pest control in certified vegetable areas. This study provides valuable insights for developing countries, particularly those with a “big country, small farmers” context, to promote the diffusion of outsourcing pest control services, the standardized use of pesticides, and the regulation of pest control behavior.