Urban Vegetable Farmworkers Beliefs and Perception of Risks Associated with Pesticides Exposure: A Case of Gaborone City, Botswana

Abstract

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.

Cuba pesticides knowledge and practical use

“…Considering that most farmers are engaged in various crops such as tobacco, rice, tomato, beans, fruits, and vegetables, there is a high frequency of applications per week (33.3 % apply three times per week). Similar alarming spraying frequencies have been observed in other countries on similar crops (Leungo et al, 2012;Ngowi et al, 2007).…”

“…Farmers were mainly in the age groups of 41-50 years (36.7 %) and 51-60 years (25.8 %), with a predominance of males (86.7 %) as the head of household (see table 2). Similar percentages were cited in other studies (Leungo, Obopile, Madisa & Assefa, 2012;Rother, 2008;Tsimbiri et al, 2015). The farmers surveyed had a good level of education (55 % completed high school, and 15.8 % obtained a university degree) (Silva et al, 2015;Tsimbiri et al, 2015).…”

“…Reasons for this increase (use of the inadequate pesticide volumes, increase in pest resistance, increase in the pest population, and increase in budget) agree with the results found by other authors (Ngowi et al, 2007;Rosquete-Pérez, 2011). Similar to other studies, as can be observed in table 4, Cuban farmers considered that pesticides can enter the body through the skin, mouth, and nose (Kumari & Reddy, 2013;Leungo et al, 2012), but these can mainly affect their health if they are ingested (positive correlation); however, not when they come in contact with the skin or enter through the nose. While participants in our study were aware of specific health effects (e.g., nausea, dizziness, sneezing, skin problems, shortness of breath, coughing, and headache, observed in figure 2), the economic benefits achieved by using pesticides overpowered their concerns regarding the dangers, resulting in the adoption of risky practices.…”

Hubungan Penggunaan Pestisida dan Alat Pelindung Diri dengan Keluhan Kesehatan pada Petani Hortikultura di Buleleng, Bali

“…Tren pemakaian masker dari baju kaos juga terjadi di negara lain yaitu di Filipina, Botswana dan Turki. 13,20,21 Selain itu baju dan celana panjang berbahan kaos tanpa pelindung tambahan. Kondisi penggunaan baju dan celana panjang tanpa tambahan pelindung dari bahan plastik atau kulit juga ditemukan di Philipina dan di Taqarua Brazil.…”

Efficacy of Abamectin against adult spider mite, Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Acari: Tetranychidae) on tomato in Botswana

“…Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. lycopersicum), which belongs to the family Solanaceae, is the most popular and widely consumed vegetable crop grown in open fields, greenhouses and shade houses of the world including Botswana (Badimo 2020; Leungo et al 2012;Mwandila et al 2013) [2,17,22] . Tomato is highly valued for its economic and nutritional value (Boamah et al 2010;Dube et al 2020; Shiberu and Getu 2018) [5,8,27] and constitutes an important part of household diet and national economy.…”