Author(s)

Serena Chiang, Fiona Chiang

Corresponding Author

Serena Chiang

ABSTRACT

With a large population and a great demand for food production, China is known as the largest consumer of agricultural chemicals in the world. However, the excessive use of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals jeopardizes people’s health, especially for children, and immediate measures are needed to promote agricultural sustainability and safety. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate how pesticide control reflects current producer and consumer patterns where local farmers are losing their competitiveness in the market in Guangdong province. In order to study this problem, multiple methods are adopted, including online research, data survey, field research and experiment. Two surveys are carried out, which are targeted at consumers’ shopping habits and preferences for food respectively. Apart from this, local farmers from Ping Shan are also interviewed to study the demand for food produced by small local farmers as well as the use of pesticides in their products.

KEYWORDS

Agricultural pollutant residue, Consumer preferences, Demand for food, Online sales platforms