Farmers’ awareness and pesticides residual levels in water among smallholder vegetable farms in Kabarole district western Uganda

Abstract

This study assessed farmer’s awareness and the residual effect/ levels of pesticides used among smallholder vegetable farmers in south western Uganda. Pesticide use became a common practice by most farmers in Uganda for controlling pests and diseases to prevent crop damage and losses caused by pest and disease. However, this has often been done at the expense of the environment and human health since pesticides would ultimately enter into water and food chains. A cross-sectional case study was conducted to examine the extent to which farmers were aware and used pesticides, using a constructed questionnaire and observations, and also assessing the residual levels of Cypermethrin and Mancozeb in the domestic water sources using gas chromatography (GC) equipped with auto sampler and mass selective detector (GC-MS). Results showed that almost 100% of respondents reported spraying pesticides to manage pests and diseases. Farmers used a variety of types of pesticides in their fields, with 100% of farmers using conventional insecticides and fungicides to control insect pests and fungal diseases. About 98.9% of famers applied pesticides routinely or on calendar basis and over 78% sprayed on a twice-a-week basis. About 72.2% did not seek for any knowledge about pesticides and more than 90% did not receive any training, and some farmers determined pesticides mixing rates by guessing. Almost 95% of the farmers never accessed extension services and some farmers mixed their pesticides at water sources before spraying; others disposed of pesticide containers by throwing them in water and in the bushes around fields. About 98.9% of the farmers did not calibrating their spray equipment and 33.3% could not tell the expiry dates on pesticide labels. Results further showed that out of eight tested water samples, Cypermethrin was present in five samples, in two samples it was above the acceptable maximum residual limit (MRL) and in the other three samples residues were below the accepted MRL value. The mean concentrations of other three samples for cypermethrin were also below the acceptable limit for human consumption. Mancozeb average concentrations in all water samples were below MRL value. Majority of farmers used pesticides in violation of recommended procedures/rules and pesticide handling practices were associated with farmers’ lack of knowledge/awareness about pesticide use, inadequate extension services and low education levels. There was need to adopt integrated agro-inputs management systems such as integrated pest management (IPM), and crop rotation, improving extension services for creating awareness and serve as source of information and training forum for farmers on safe application of pesticides and safety equipments during mixing and spraying, raising awareness about problems linked to pesticide use in agricultural production, and how they can be avoided. Regular monitoring of pesticide residual levels in water and the general environment is required in order to control pollution. To avoid the possible health hazards, the indiscriminate application of pesticides needed to be restricted and various alternative methods for pest and disease control such as integrated pest management (IPM) and substitute products like bio-pesticide needed to be introduced on a broader scale.