Do agricultural microplastics undermine food security and sustainable development in developing countries?
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF READING
Department Name: Sch of Agriculture Policy and Dev
Abstract
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Organisations
Publications
Kassem H
(2025)
Plastic residues and microplastics in agroecosystems: How Egyptian farmers perceive the risks?
in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Reay MK
(2025)
Higher potential leaching of inorganic and organic additives from biodegradable compared to conventional agricultural plastic mulch film.
in Journal of hazardous materials
| Description | The University of Reading component of the research project (WP4) supported country partners in Vietnam, India, China, Sri Lanka and Egypt to explore understanding by smallholder farmer perceptions of the barriers and opportunities of plasticulture. Similar broad perceptions about the benefits and challenges of agriplastic use were found across all countries, with contextual differences explained by political economy. Farmers were aware of the threat of potential microplastic contamination but continue to use plastics in their practice because of the financial benefits and lack of perceived alternatives. Perception was positively influenced by area under plastic, multiplicity of plasticulture systems, years of use, and geographical location. Those who have used biodegradable mulch before, or better quality plastic mulch, had a positive willingness to pay and motivation to pick and recycle while those buying in private sector experienced poor quality expensive mulch. Adoption of biodegradable mulch was influenced by cultivated area and income, knowledge and training and social norms, while farmer experience, age and perception of risk underpin decisions. Improved mulch adaptation behaviour led to positive food security and income outcomes but it was important to recognise different agriplastic information needs for different farming systems and contexts. |
| Exploitation Route | Countries should ensure there are coordinated participatory rural information, especially on innovations for new technologies, plasticulture and market; Coordinated advocacy by Government to stabilise plastic mulch pricing, regulate quality and invest in recycling infrastructure; Inclusion of private sector plastic producers and merchants in local farmer networks to promote and develop potential biodegradable options. There is a need for organised waste management strategies, such as on-farm pick up service of plastic waste, financial incentives and disincentives to farmers for recycling and creating better valuation of agricultural plastics placed for recycling; the paucity of labour and high labour costs in picking, collection, consolidation and cleaning of mulch films must be addressed through proper policies and appropriate technology development; agricultural extension services are one existing mechanism to support farmers to access correct and timely information about the use and recycling of plastics; and sustainable alternatives to plastic such as reliable biodegradable mulch will need to be made available at affordable prices. Taking a holistic livelihood approach, that considers adaptation and risk management, is more cost effective for farmers and can help with labour and reduce long term costs. |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Environment |
| Description | The component of the research (workpackage 4) at the UoR towards the wider collaborative grant focuses on Identify smallholder farmer barriers and opportunities associated with removing plastics from soil. The team have developed participatory engagement exercises with groups of farmers using agricultural plastic and a survey with 1500 farmers from across different contexts in China, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Vietnam. The priority focus is to understand farmers' perceptions of barriers and opportunities associated with removing plastics from soil and implications for decisions to adopt new practice across these different contexts, which offers a novel contribution. Our exploratory analysis of perceptions helps to identify the most relevant behavioural barriers e.g. which groups exert the most pressure on farmers to adopt new innovations or change behaviour (the role of change agents) and views about low uptake of new technology/decision support tools. The communication mapping of farmers' sources of information and communication channels (including what formats and information is valued) also highlight information that is valued and used by farmers and gaps where better information could be provided by the project. The at scale survey reveals perceptions of socio-economic barriers and opportunities, associated with typologies by context and farmer, and implications for communicating/supporting behaviour change. For example, we can use these insights to inform improved targeted information or incentives by change agents, which reflects groups of farmers with different decision-making values and to identify where other actors in the agriplastic system are critical, for example in waste management and policy regulation. This is useful both for demonstration activities, engagement with other actors to deliver sustainable changes and for scaling out of project work to similar contexts. It should be noted that the covid pandemic was a major challenge to this research for the first two years because country partners faced restrictions on movement of people, accessibility of data collection areas and individual travel to planning meetings. While remote working was used, this could not overcome the delay to data collection, particularly in China. Sri Lanka also faced economic and political circumstances in-country which delayed the start of the data collection for this component on the research. Further specific updates on how the findings from WP4 have been used by the project, by stakeholders and for impact will be reported as the project continues. WP4 activities and analysis are completed and outputs written, with additional outputs in development. The insights about farmer perspectives on risk, waste management, innovation adoption and the opportunities or barriers to sustainable farming practice have helped inform other components of the research project. This includes country partners' policy advocacy and tools to support decision-making. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | Project contribution to advisory to Vietnam Prime Minister on improved agriplastic waste management and development of alternative options |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Mini-workshops IAE and SFRI Hanoi Vietnam to develop key messages from WP4 research findings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | 10 policymakers engaged with the Vietnam study team, and Henny Osbahr at the IAE and SFRI in Hanoi, Vietnam, to discuss key research findings from WP4 emerging from developing research papers, and how the results could inform policy. The mini-workshops took place over 3 days in February 2025. The discussions facilitated improvements to the research papers and further pathways for advocacy in Vietnam. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Policy networking mapping Vietnam |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Institute of Agricultural Environment in Hanoi is a project partner and connected to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The purpose of considering the key policy makers to network results to is useful to legacy activities and communication of findings from the project. The exercise of mapping this process with the team, allows a follow up in person visit from Professor Osbahr in March 2024 to identify potential formats and routes of communication. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Training event Bhopal India |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | In August 2022, Dr Mondira Bhattacharya from the University of Reading provided a week of training to staff at ICAR-IISS, Bhopal, the India project partner and Government research institute. The training focused on the use of a social survey tool and input into Kobo tool box. The training event included trialling the new skills in the field with farmers and the process helped to increase capacity of researchers at the research institute. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Training event at Mansoura University, Egypt |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | In September 2022 Dr Mondira Bhattacharya and Prof Henny Osbahr visited Mansoura University, Egypt for a week to provide training in the social science tools and visit field locations to pilot the approach. The research team, together with extension and outreach professionals, visited field locations and had the opportunity to engage with farmers who use plasticulture, a business which collects plastic from farmers and recycles, and a plastic producer. The engagement with farmers and the private sector opened a conversation about further information about production of biodegradable plastic and the constraints within the waste management system for agricultural plastics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Vietnam WP4 project workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Participants from China, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Vietnam met at the Soils and Fertiliser Research Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam, for 3 days from 27 February 2023 to discuss progress in the data collection and preliminary insights from the data analysis for WP4. This component of the research focuses on understanding farmer level perspectives about the use of agricultural plasticulture, challenges for removal and decision making to adopt bioplastic alternatives. The workshop facilitated co-development of the research narratives, agreement on analysis methodology, publication strategy and ways to feed in the learning to other components of the wider research project, including identification of other stakeholders and legacy impact. The meeting also facilitated capacity building through training of research tools and analysis methods and included research staff and PhDs from the countries to participate, in addition to country leads. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |