PhD proposal Pesticide Governance (Mengistie)

Sustainable  Pesticide  governance  in Vegetable and flower farms of Ethiopia

Belay Tizazu Mengistie (Student)

The growing problem of pesticide misuse has become a great concern in developing countries. Ethiopia is in the process of intensifying and diversifying its agriculture to meet national demands for food and other agricultural products, and to increase exports. This may lead to increased use of agrochemicals such as pesticides .However, pesticides, when used inappropriately, can affect human health and the environment. Therefore, sustainable growth of the agricultural sector and protection of human health and the environment require effective management of pesticides. Although, the Ethiopian government should play an important role in this regard, it has failed to do so in many instances. Scientific research on pesticide governance and its shortcomings in Ethiopia is lacking. This PhD project seeks to fill this gap.

This research aims to analyse the gap between formulated state pesticide policy and its implementation and to review the actual and potential contribution from state and market actors/networks in changing in pesticides use practices .To achieve this, a conceptual framework, drawn principally from the different theories of environmental governance is applied to assess the role of state and market actors (public -private relationships) in implementing a healthy and socially and environmentally sound flower and vegetable production system in Ethiopia. As challenges on pesticides are not the concern of a single institution, this research assumes that sustainable use of pesticide will not be achieved without the participation of all concerned actors. 

A rough work plan for the four years of the Ph D research project

Year 1: ( Nine months, The Netherlands)

Phase :1 The PhD candidate will do an in depth literature search and review of the following elements of the subject:

-       Literature on pesticide policies in developing countries, Environmental governance theories, policy evaluation,  private actors(market actors) and value chain

-       The PhD candidate will follow selected Short term , MSc and PhD courses (Advanced and contemporary social theories ,Ecological modernization theory ,Environmental policy: analysis and  evaluation ,Qualitative data analysis: procedures and strategies ,Participatory approaches in planning ,policy and development, Scientific publishing, Project and time management, Scientific writing ,Information literacy).

-       Attend international conferences

Phase 2: Operationalization of the dissertation proposal

Phase 3: Orienting interviews, data gathering and identification of the area for research within the rift valley  (6-8  months; Ethiopia)

Year 2:Six  Months in The Netherlands (Analysis of data)

By the end of the mid second year the PhD candidate will start to write the policy evaluation and market governance sub-projects

-       Analysis of the data and reporting on policy evaluation and market governance of pesticide  

-       Finalization of the policy evaluation and market governance of pesticide field research

-       First and second scientific articles on pesticide policy and market governance of pesticide in Ethiopia

Year 3: Eight  months in Ethiopia (Data collection)

Data collection on  KAP of vegetable farmers and international flower value chain 

Year 4:  Ten Months Return to the Netherlands ( Analysis of data ) 

Further analysis of the latter two sub-projects (third and fourth scientific articles)