Attitudes and practices of farmers with regard to pesticide use in NorthWest Ethiopia

Abstract This paper studies the practice of synthetic chemical use among farmers and its possible occurrence as residue in fish foods in North-West Ethiopia. Cross-sectional study design was carried out from January to December 2018. A multi-stage sampling technique embedded with simple random sampling was employed for the selection of sampling units. The data were collected through in-depth interviews and observations of farmers. Data entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 20. The results showed that farmers applied chemicals indiscriminately and inappropriately on their farm, using unsafe storage facilities, ignoring risks and safety instructions. Consequently, farmers respond that insecticides and herbicides were used up to 100% and 96.4% of their farms, respectively. Most of the farmers (80.16%) of the study area have poor attitudes and practices of pesticide usage. Multivariable analysis showed, illiterate educational level; Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 3.39; 95% CI: 1.7, 6.77; Land holders situation (AOR = 1.8, 95% CI: 1.52, 2.9) has been formally not trained about pesticides usage (AOR = 2.97, 95% CI: 1.06, 8.37) and not read pesticide labels (AOR = 3.69, 95%CI: 1.62, 13.64) were significantly associated with possible poor attitude and practice of pesticide contamination. We conclude that there are high possibilities of chemical residues affects fish and occurring in food products (in milk, meat, fish, vegetable and fruit) that may have a public health risk in the study area. Therefore, one health intervention is required.