Climate Change, Pesticides and Health: Considering the Risks and Opportunities of Adaptation for Zimbabwean Smallholder Cotton Growers

Abstract

There is potential for increased pesticide-related adverse health outcomes in the agricultural sector linked to adaptive increases in pesticide use necessitated, in part, by climate change-related increases in pest populations. To understand the role of adaptation practices in pesticide use and health risks, this study assessed Zimbabwean smallholder cotton farmers’ adaptive responses linked to their climate change perceptions. In depth interviews were conducted with 50 farmers who had been growing cotton for at least 30 years. The study identified farmers’ adaptation practices that increased their pesticide use, as well as those that presented opportunities for reducing pesticide use through non-pesticide-dependent adaptation pathways. The findings show that due to perceived climate change impacts, such as a shorter growing season, farmers were adopting a range of adaptive practices. These included changes in pest management practices, such as increasing pesticide spraying frequencies due to keeping ratoon crops, which were increasing farmers’ overall pesticide use. Such incremental adaptive practices are potentially maladaptive, as they may increase farmers’ pesticide-related health risks. Other practices, however, such as reducing cotton acreage and diversifying crops, resulting in transformational adaptation, suggest the existence of opportunities for decreasing overall pesticide use or totally eliminating pesticides from the farming system.

An Assessment of Pesticide Poisoning Incidences Presented at Health Care Facilities in Mashonaland Central Province, Zimbabwe

“…In contrast, a previous study conducted in Zimbabwe over two years suggested a lower figure of 32% due to intentional poisoning (Tagwireyi et al 2002). The difference between these two studies can be attributed to the increased use of pesticides in Zimbabwe during the last two decades (Zinyemba et al 2021). Several studies in Low to LMIC countries Iran, Sri Lanka and India have reported that the intentional use of pesticides for poisoning is a significant challenge associated with pesticide use (Jesslin et al 2010;Razwiedani and Rautenbach 2017;Noghrehchi et al 2022;Chan et al 2023).…”

Optimizing Agricultural Input and Production for Different Types of at-Risk Peasant Households: An Empirical Study of Typical Counties in the Yimeng Mountain Area of Northern China

“…Therefore, a timely approach to optimize the agricultural input and production combination can help peasant households to mitigate the negative effects of risks and to adopt adaptive measures. Local governments and related departments should focus on these research findings to develop reasonable agricultural risk management policies [ 65 ]. The government can increase the early warning and forecasting of weather and disaster information.…”

Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Human Resource Functions: Challenges and Opportunities

“…It is crucial for organisation to mitigate bias in all aspects of HR function. Especially, in Global South countries many processes in HR like recruitment, training and performance appraisal done based on nepotism or favouritism (e.g., Zinyemba, 2014;Subat et al, 2020). In respect to that, AI-based system will reduce the possibilities of this kind of bias (Nawaz, 2019;Rathi, 2018;Upadhyay & Khandelwal, 2018;Bora & Borah, 2020) by ignoring some irrelevant information (e.g., gender, marital status, weight, and race) or insignificant perception (e.g.…”