Role of Farmers’ Training on Improving Pesticide Management and Food Safety in Conventional Cabbage and Eggplant Production

Pesticides pose a serious risk to the environment and public health when used in crop production in an unsafe and indiscriminate manner. Moreover, there is a preconceived notion that conventionally grown crops are not as safe as organic crops due to the presence of pesticide residues. To address this, an intervention that focused on farmers’ training on proper pesticide management was conducted. Two farmer clusters were organized separately, and pesticide usage and practices were monitored and evaluated. The results of the evaluation indicated a significant decline in the usage of pesticides not registered for cabbage and eggplant production. Residue analysis for major insecticide groups (organochlorines, organophosphates, and pyrethroids) of the harvested crops showed that 100% of the eggplant samples (n = 20) and 80% of the cabbage samples (n = 20) had non-detectable pesticide residues (< 0.01 mg/kg). The cabbage samples with detectable residues are found to be compliant with the currently established CODEX and ASEAN maximum residue limits for the indicated pesticides. Overall, this suggests that training and monitoring activities conducted to strengthen the knowledge and adherence to pesticide safety practices resulted in safe conventional vegetable production. It is recommended that farmers’ training and other extension activities be conducted periodically to promote the judicious use of pesticides for food safety.