Impact of pesticide use intensity on the occurrence area of crop diseases and insect pests—Empirical analysis based on the random effects model

A random effects model was used to analyze the influence of pesticide use intensity on the occurrence area of crop diseases and insect pests using the unit root tests with the panel data set covering the 30 provinces， autonomous regions，and municipalities in China for the period 2003 - 2013. The results show that the intensity of pesticide use has significantly positive effect on the occurrence area of crop diseases and insect pests. The higher the intensity of pesticide use，the larger occurrence area of crop diseases and insect pests. Specifically，the increase in pesticide use intensity by 1 unit will significantly increases the area of crop pests and diseases 0.2308 units. All samples show a similar ratio in both eastern regions and central regions，which indicates the traditional knowledge， which the increase in the pesticide use intensity could reduce the occurrence area of crop diseases，need to be changed. Nevertheless，crop diversity has a negative effect on the occurrence area of crop diseases and insect pests. Finally，some patterns of pesticide use，conservation of crop diversity in both the eastern and central china are proposed.