Perceptions of pesticide use and health risks among apple growers in Kashmir Himalaya

JSFA reports Pub Date : 2023-07-13 DOI:10.1002/jsf2.143

Moieza Ashraf, Saima Hassan, Shahid Ahmad Dar

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Abstract

Background

Understanding the patterns of pesticide use is important in protecting the environment and farmer's health for improvement of sustainability in chemical pest control. Studies on the knowledge and awareness of pesticides by farmers are often incomplete. Therefore, our study aimed at investigating the awareness and knowledge of pesticides from a detailed survey of 394 apple growers in the Kashmir Himalaya.

Results

The study revealed that farmers have inadequate knowledge and awareness about pesticides. About 47.2% of the farmers are choosing pesticides based on the efficiency of the pest/pathogen control, 38.1% are choosing pesticides based on the cost of the product, and 14.7% of the farmers are choosing pesticides based on ease of availability. Most of the farmers rated the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as not important. The farmers believed that the use of pesticides is the only way of controlling the pest outbreaks that ultimately led to reckless spraying of pesticides. Our results revealed that farmers are spraying pesticides without protective gears and inappropriate dumping of pesticides and their containers, risking the health of humans and the environment. Almost 96% of the farmers feel burning and irritation to the eyes and skin, headache, and vomiting due to pesticide spraying. The results of this research work accentuate the requirement to educate apple growers about the adequate and safe use of pesticides to avoid risks to public and environmental health.

Conclusion

The study concludes that farmers are significantly impacted by the use of pesticides. Ineffective actions of pesticide dealers, government regulations, and illiteracy of farmers are the main causes of the reckless use of pesticides. Therefore, special attention should be paid towards sustainable approaches of pesticide spraying and use of safety gears like personal protective equipment, for protection of human and environmental health.

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克什米尔喜马拉雅地区苹果种植者对杀虫剂使用和健康风险的认知

背景了解农药使用模式对于保护环境和农民健康，提高化学害虫防治的可持续性具有重要意义。农民对农药知识和认识的研究往往是不完整的。因此，我们的研究旨在调查克什米尔喜马拉雅地区394名苹果种植者对杀虫剂的认识和知识。结果研究表明，农民对农药的认识和认识不足。约47.2%的农民根据病虫害/病原体控制的效率选择农药，38.1%的农民根据产品成本选择农药，14.7%的农民基于易得性选择农药。大多数农民认为虫害综合治理原则并不重要。农民们认为，使用杀虫剂是控制害虫爆发的唯一方法，而害虫爆发最终导致了不计后果地喷洒杀虫剂。我们的研究结果显示，农民在没有防护装备的情况下喷洒农药，并不当倾倒农药及其容器，这危及人类健康和环境。近96%的农民因喷洒农药而感到眼睛和皮肤灼热、刺激、头痛和呕吐。这项研究工作的结果强调了对苹果种植者进行充分和安全使用杀虫剂教育的要求，以避免对公众和环境健康造成风险。结论农药使用对农民影响较大。农药经销商的无效行为、政府法规和农民的文盲是鲁莽使用农药的主要原因。因此，应特别注意可持续的杀虫剂喷洒方法和个人防护设备等安全装备的使用，以保护人类和环境健康。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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