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A survey was conducted in urban horticultural setting in Gaborone City, Botswana from 4 th to 31 st March 2010 by interviewing 56 farmworkers on their perception and knowledge of risks and hazards associated with exposure to pesticides. The study showed that most farmers relied heavily on pesticides and applied them without considering economic damage to crop. Most pesticides used are classified as extremely hazardous by the World Health Organisatopn (WHO). Majority of farmworkers were aware of health risks and environmental contamination associated with pesticides. The awareness of pesticide harm was significantly influenced by educational background, training on pesticide use and experience on vegetable production. While the percentage of educated and experienced workers was higher (> 50%), training from extension services was only 14% indicating the need for more training to maintain the awareness standard. The study needs to be done in other urban centres of Botswana to get countrywide information on farmworkers awareness of pesticide harm.

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African yam bean is a versatile legume crop, relished for its protein rich tubers, seeds and leaves which are utilized as spinach. It is a highly adaptable crop capable of producing growth even on acid and highly leached sandy soils. A pot experiment was conducted at Botswana College Agriculture to determine nodulation of African Yam Bean with Rhizobium indigenous to soils of Botswana. Soil collected from two different sites at Botswana College of Agriculture were used with each planted with African Yam Bean and cowpea plants. No fertilizer supplementation was added to the soils. Data was collected after eight weeks of establishment. The parameters measured were the number of nodules, nodule weight and plant weight. The data was analysed using Genstat software Discovery Version. African Yam Bean formed nitrogen fixing nodules under the soils from the two different sites. It compared favorably with cowpea because there were no significant differences in nodulation (nodule number and nodule weight, fresh and dry weight) between the two species. This study has further revealed that African Yam Bean is adaptable to a wide variety of environments and could be successfully grown in Botswana without expensive inputs such as inorganic fertilizers.