Use of pesticides in urban and peri-urban market gardening in the town of Korhogo, in the north of Ivory Coast

Abstract

The town of Korhogo, located in the north of Ivory Coast, is supplied with fresh vegetables by urban and peri-urban market gardeners who regularly use synthetic pesticides during phytosanitary treatments of crops. In order to assess the level of risk of contamination of vegetables by pesticides, a survey on their use was carried out among 206 vegetable producers. The results showed that the practice of market gardening is 98% dominated by women. The average age of producers is 40.30 years. The majority of producers are illiterate with a rate of 88%. Among producers, 84% make market gardening a permanent activity. The synthetic pesticides used for this crop are 89.64% approved in Côte d'Ivoire. Phytosanitary treatments are almost generally carried out without compliant application equipment and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), by 85.93% of producers. More than half (54.11%) of the pesticides used by these market gardeners are inappropriate for the treatment of vegetables. The number of pesticide treatments per crop cycle varies between 2 and 38 treatments. The pre-harvest period (DAR) varies from 2 to 60 days from one producer to another. These results highlight poor phytosanitary practices among urban and peri-urban market gardeners in the city of Korhogo. These producers and consumers are thus exposed to risks of poisoning. Use of pesticides …Sibirina SORO et al.