Pesticide sprayers' knowledge, attitude and practice of pesticide use on agricultural farms of Ethiopia

Mekonnen, Yalemtsehay; Agonafir, Tadesse

doi:10.1093/occmed/52.6.311

Cited by 153 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Lack of protective equipment use has been reported among farmers of many countries, for example, Australia (MacFarlane et al, 2008), Brazil (Recena et al, 2006), Sri Lanka (Sivayoganathan et al, 1995), Egypt (Stewart, 1996), Gaza strip (Yassin et al, 2002), Ethiopia (Mekonnen and Agonafir, 2002) and United Arab Emirates (Gomes et al, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk assessment of pesticide exposure on health of Pakistani tobacco farmers

Khan

Shabbir

Majid

et al. 2009

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

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Tobacco is an important cash crop of Pakistan. Pesticides are commonly used to increase the crop yield, but their health impact has not been studied yet. The objectives of the study were to determine the frequency of pesticide poisoning and to explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) towards safety measures among the tobacco farmers in Swabi, Pakistan. One hundred and five tobacco farmers involved in pesticide application were randomly selected from two villages of district Swabi. A structured questionnaire was used for clinical and KAP information. Plasma cholinesterase (PChE) levels were measured by Ellman's method by using GD Italy kits. All tobacco farmers were males with a mean (SD) age of 26 (9) years. The majority of the farmers reported multiple symptoms headache, dizziness, vomiting, shortness of breath, muscle weakness and skin rash correlate with the clinically significant depression of PChE levels. Out of 105 pesticide applicators, 58 (55%) had post-exposure reduction in PChE levels o20% from baseline, 35 (33%) had mild poisoning (20-40% reduction) and 12 (11%) had moderate poisoning (440% reduction). Most of the farmers did not use any personal protective equipment during pesticide handling. Only a few used shoes (31%), masks (14%) and gloves (9%) during pesticide spray. In conclusion, the tobacco farmers had mild to moderate pesticide poisoning, which was correlated with depression in PChE levels. Moreover, most farmers had little knowledge about the safety measures, casual attitude and unsatisfactory safety practices with regard to the use of basic protective equipments during pesticide applications on the tobacco crop.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk assessment of pesticide exposure on health of Pakistani tobacco farmers

Khan

Shabbir

Majid

et al. 2009

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

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“…These include characteristics of individual farmers such as their gender [42], education level [19], farming years [43], planting size [44], other economic features such as portion of household income generating from farming [45], government and policy factors such as the participation in pesticide use training organized by governments [46]; knowledge about types of prohibited pesticides [47], views towards frequent and massive use of pesticides on generating pesticide residue [29], view towards massive use of pesticides which in turn damage the surrounding environment [48]. In addition, we have included a new variable, which is farmer's knowledge on the "Guideline for safety application of pesticides".…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Rice Farmer’s Pesticide Overuse Practice and the Determinants: A Statistical Analysis Based on Data Collected in Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces of China

Wang

Chu

2018

Sustainability

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Understanding the extent of pesticide overuse and what drives rice farmers to overuse pesticide in agricultural production theoretically and empirically is imperative to increase farmers' income, promote agricultural transformation and agricultural sustainable development. In this paper, we examined the phenomenon and pattern of pesticides overuse based on the data collected from 861 rice farmers in Jiangsu and Anhui, two provinces in China. By applying the Cobb-Douglas production function (C-D production function) and the damage control model, we estimated the marginal productivity of pesticides. We also adopted the Binary Probit model to further explore factors leading to overuse of pesticide among farmers. Our findings suggested that the marginal productivity of pesticides is close to zero, indicating that there is an excessive use of pesticides in the surveyed areas. According to the Binary Probit model, we also discovered that female farmers, farmers with knowledge about pesticide toxicity, pesticide residue and farmers who hold the view that massive use of pesticide is inimical to the environment, and farmers who participate in pesticide training organized by the government, are more likely to overuse pesticide. On the contrary, experienced farmers have a lower chance of overusing pesticides. Possible explanations to the above findings may be that applying pesticides in accordance with the instructions causes overusing and farmers who are loss-averse, in order to avoid the risk of income loss that may be caused by disease and insect pests, and keep its own income stable, will still increase the amount of pesticide application. It also indicates that farmers are insensitive to increased pesticide overuse.

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“…Other parts of sub-Saharan Africa have similar problems with the widespread use of highly toxic and illegal pesticides (Ecobichon 2001;Williamson et al 2008;Handford et al 2015). Like in many African countries, also in Ethiopia, different studies conducted on knowledge, attitude and perception (KAP) among smallholders (Mekonnen and Agonafir 2002;Amera and Abate 2008;Mengistie et al 2014;Damte and Tabor 2015) have shown that farmers have low knowledge, attitude and perception on pesticides use. Other interesting studies done in sub-Saharan Africa (Gogo et al 2014;Faustin et al 2015;Simon et al 2014) can be seen as an attempt to combine some elements of the system of provision into an integrated strategy, emphasizing the need to provide low or nontoxic insecticides (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Different studies conducted on knowledge, attitude and behaviour among smallholders (Mekonnen and Agonafir 2002;Obopile et al 2008;Macharia et al 2013;Abang et al 2014;Damte and Tabor 2015) have shown that unsafe use of pesticides is common in developing countries including in Ethiopia. However, little research has explored farmers' actual practices, while applying an approach based on practice theory could improve our understanding of these practices and the changes therein.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pesticide use practices among smallholder vegetable farmers in Ethiopian Central Rift Valley

Mengistie

Mol

Oosterveer

2015

Environ Dev Sustain

194

181

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Pesticide use is a common practice to control pests and diseases in vegetable cultivation, but often at the expense of the environment and human health. This article studies pesticide-buying and use practices among smallholder vegetable farmers in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia, using a practice perspective. Through in-depth interviews and observations, data were collected from a sample of farmers, suppliers and key governmental actors. The results reveal that farmers apply pesticides in violation of the recommendations: they use unsafe storage facilities, ignore risks and safety instructions, do not use protective devices when applying pesticides, and dispose containers unsafely. By applying a social practice approach, we show that these pesticide-handling practices are steered by the combination of the system of provision, the farmers' lifestyle and the everyday context in which pesticides are being bought and used. Bringing in new actors such as environmental authorities, suppliers, NGOs and private actors, as well as social and technological innovations, may contribute to changes in the actual performance of these pesticides buying and using practices. This article argues that a practice approach represents a promising perspective to analyse pesticide handling and use and to systematically identify ways to change these.

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Pesticide sprayers' knowledge, attitude and practice of pesticide use on agricultural farms of Ethiopia

Cited by 153 publications

References 20 publications

Risk assessment of pesticide exposure on health of Pakistani tobacco farmers

Risk assessment of pesticide exposure on health of Pakistani tobacco farmers

Measuring Rice Farmer’s Pesticide Overuse Practice and the Determinants: A Statistical Analysis Based on Data Collected in Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces of China

Pesticide use practices among smallholder vegetable farmers in Ethiopian Central Rift Valley

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