•Step 6. Steps 2, 3, 4 and 5 were repeated for each plant protection program in order to determine the average number of unit doses used within each plant protection program on each crop.•Step 7. For each of the four categories of pesticide, the average number of unit doses was calculated as the weighted average of each plant protection program according to its relative importance (the percentage of agricultural land area protected by each program).•Step 8. For each crop, the average pesticide use intensity factor (˛k) was defined by summing the average intensity factors corresponding to the four categories of pesticides.