Analysing social-ecological interactions in disease control: An agent-based model on farmers' decision making and potato late blight dynamics
Authored by Francine C A Pacilly, Gert Jan Hofstede, Bueren Edith T Lammerts van, Jeroen C J Groot
Date Published: 2019
DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.06.016
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Abstract
In this paper we focus on potato late blight control in the Netherlands
to analyse the social-ecological interactions between farmer behaviour
and disease dynamics. An agent-based model was developed to analyse the
use of crop resistance for sustainable disease control. The framework on
farmers' decision-making was based on a behavioural theory and supported
by data from literature and interviews with Dutch potato farmers. This
framework was integrated with a previously developed spatially explicit
model on potato late blight dynamics. We assumed a scenario where a new
resistant potato variety was introduced to the market. The model
reproduced a boom-and-bust cycle: the percentage of farmers growing the
resistant variety increased until resistance breakdown occurred by
emergence and spread of a virulent strain, and in response farmers
switched to other potato varieties and management strategies. Several
factors and processes were identified that could contribute to the
development of sustainable disease management strategies.
Tags
Management
Risk
systems
Social-ecological systems
Strategies
Gene
Land-use models
Consumat
Phytophthora infestans
Resistance
management
Phytophthora-infestans
Durable resistance
Plant-resistance
Host-resistance