This document discusses human behavior, decision making, and pest management decision making in agriculture. It defines human behavior as physical actions and emotions that are influenced by social and cultural factors over a person's lifetime. Decision making is described as choosing between alternatives to further goals with minimal objections. The key aspects of decisions are that they are rational, selective, purposive, and evaluated. Pest management decisions in farming depend on pest damage levels, available protection measures, and farmer objectives. Analyzing damage costs, control strategies, and economic factors helps farmers decide whether to apply pesticides. The adoption of integrated pest management strategies in farming requires considering how it affects farmer welfare dimensions and matches farm resource usage.
2. Human behavior
• It refers to the array of every physical action and
observable emotion associated with individuals.
• Human behavior is experienced throughout an
individual’s entire lifetime and it includes the way they
act based on different factors:
a) Social norms
b) Attitude
c) Core faith
d) Culture
3. Decision making concept
• A decision is an act of choice, wherein an executive forms
a conclusion about what must be done in a given
situation.
• Decision-making can be regarded as a problem-solving
activity terminated by a solution deemed to be
satisfactory.
• Every action of a manager is generally an outcome of a
decision.
• Manely H. Jones, “It is a solution selected after examining
several alternatives chosen because the decider foresees
that the course of action he selects will do more than the
others to further his goals and will be accompanied by the
fewest possible objectionable consequences”.
4. Important features of managerial decisions:
Rational Thinking:
-It is invariably based on rational thinking. Since the human
brain with its ability to learn, remember and relate many
complex factors, makes the rationality possible.
Process:
- It is the process followed by deliberations and reasoning.
Selective:
- it is the choice of the best course among alternatives. In other
words, decision involves selection of the best course from among
the available alternative courses that are identified by the
decision-maker.
5. Purposive:
- It is usually purposive i.e. it relates to the end. The
solution to a problem provides an effective means to the
desired goal or end.
Evaluation :
- should evaluate the results of the decisions taken by
him/her
6. Humans have limited information processing and
memory capabilities. These limitations can result in biases:
information processing biases can be towards an original
"belief anchor," but, in other cases, can be over-responsive to
recent information. These are different responses that may be
characteristic of individuals, groups, or cultures, and may
even change depending upon circumstances. If such biases
are consistent, opponent decision makers can exploit them.
7. Decision analysis
Pest management decision making is determined by
three factors:
1. The nature of pest attack and the damage it causes;
2. The range of protection measures and information
available to the farmers;
3. The farmers objectives.
8. The pest management decision is problem can be tackled by
means of two stage analysis;
1. Determining the best strategy to adopt for any
dimension of attack,
2. Estimating the dimension of attack faced at a particular
time and place.
9. In making an analysis, however, additional information is
required.
• The damage function- relating the level of attack to crop
loss.
• The control function- that relates the reduction in attack to
the control strategy applied.
• The estimated price of the crop
• The cost of the chemical and its application
10. To illustrate:
Let us consider a particular case study involving the control
of potato cyst eelworm by means of soil fumigant.
In this particular example, the level of pest attack can be
estimated by taking soil samples from the field to be
planted, and determining the number of nematode eggs per
gram of soil. On the basis of this information, the farmer can
then decide whether to apply chemical fumigant (DD)
before planting his crop or not.
11. Farm level decision-making
For an IPM strategy to be successful, it must enter the
farm level decision making process and be adopted as the
course of action. Adoption will occur because a strategy ranks
highest within a possible set of actions. An IPM strategy will
be adopted, then, either because of profitability or because of
constraints imposed. IPM strategies must be defined with this
in mind.
12. The issues involved are:
1. What dimensions of the farmers perceived welfare are
affected by IPM strategies?
2. How are these dimensions valued by farmers in choosing
the strategy to employ?
3. Does the resource usage pattern of the pest control match
up with the resource usage and opportunity values of
resources on the farm?
4. Which one of a set of strategies is “best” from a social
standpoint?
5. How many strategies be developed which will be best
socially and privately; or how may an IPM strategy be
efficiently imposed, if desired?