Knowledge, attitudes, and practices on pesticide among farmers in the Philippines

Introduction@#Pesticides are widely used in the agricultural sector to increase production by cutting down costs and improving the quality of produce. However, these chemicals come with serious health effects when an individual is exposed to large quantities at once, or low quantities over time. @*Objectives@#The objective of the study is to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practices of farmers, as well as investigate the correlation among knowledge, attitude, and practice variables. @*Methods@#This research study used a cross-sectional design. Samples were drawn based on a multistage sampling of 387 agricultural workers. The target site was in Southern Philippines and the sample was selected using multi-stage sampling from the identified municipalities. Survey questionnaires were given to the respondents to measure knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) on pesticide exposure among farmers. The data were encoded using SPSS 13.0. The statistics used were both descriptive and inferential. Correlation analysis was used to study the relationship among knowledge, attitudes, and practices. @*Results@#The results showed that farmers used pesticides in their farms on an average of 2.31 days per week (SD 2.13). The respondents reported that they were exposed to pesticides for about 3.46 months per cropping season (SD: 2.76), as well as from 3.34 (SD 5.92) cropping seasons per year. The mean score of the respondents on the knowledge aspect of the questionnaire was 5.91 out of 10 items (SD 3.28). The average score on practices on pesticide use among respondents was 3.37 (SD 1.75) with 8 items to evaluate practices. Lastly, the mean score on attitude on pesticide use among respondents was 5.34 (SD 3.31) over 12 items. Analysis showed a moderate correlation between knowledge and attitude with Pearson’s r = 0.651 (P <0.0001), also a moderate correlation between knowledge and practices at r = 0.521 (P <0.0001), and a moderate correlation between practices and attitudes at r = 0.443 (P <0.0001). Factor analysis revealed three components for items within practices and attitudes and two for items within knowledge. @*Conclusion@#Pesticide use in the Philippines continues to present various challenges in terms of its safety to humans and the environment. Farmers do not have adequate knowledge of pesticides and their proper management from use to disposal. They need to improve knowledge, encourage a healthy and safe attitude and correct practices on the hazards from pesticides, as well as its proper usage and handling. It is recommended that capacity building and training for farmers are initiated to address inadequacies in their knowledge, attitudes and practices.

Knowledge and practice of safe pesticide use among flowers planters in My Tan commune, My Loc district, Nam Dinh province

Background: Pesticides safety, plant protection chemicals are widely used around the world, especially in agriculture to protect crops. \r\n', u'Objectives: To describe the real statute of knowledge and practice of safe pesticide use among flowers planters and various other related factors. \r\n', u'Subjects and method: The cross sectional analytic study was carried out in 2006 to evaluate the current situation of knowledge and practice of safe pesticide use in 2 flower planting villages: Hong Ha 1 and Hong Ha 2, My Tan commune, My Loc district, Nam Dinh Province. Results:The results showed that knowledge on determining toxicity levels and the absorption routes of pesticides to the human body through land and water is insufficient. As for pesticide use practice, the percentage of planters fully utilizing safety work clothes and other equipments was low. Multivariate analysis found that there was a significant correlation between good practice and knowledge. In addition, some predictors of good knowledge were: highly educated, male and age. Conclusion: The findings also discovered the priority of improving direct communication on safe pesticide use among planters. \r\n', u'

A cohort study on the relationship between pesticide use and mortality, and cancer mortality / 예방의학회지

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between pesticide use and mortality, and cancer mortality which are recognized as health hazards of pesticides. Data were analyzed from a cohort of 6,066 people aged fifty-five or over and who have been residing in the main island of Kangwha county. Death certificates, computerized citizenship registers searches, and household interview survey lead to get more than ninety-seven percents follow-up rate for the first five year observation period. Important findings are as follows: 1. Age specific mortality rates of pesticide users are significantly lower than those of pesticides nonusers. The SMR of male is 0.80, and 0.58 for females respectively probably due to healthy worker effects. But, age specific cancer mortality rates are significantly higher than those of pesticide nonusers (SMR=1.59) in males. this finding is not observed in females (SMR=0.85), however. 2. Logistic regression analyses showed that self-reported health status, drinking, and smoking histories in male are significantly associated with total mortality rate. The histories of pesticide use are also calculated to be highly associated with cancer mortality as in univariate analyses in males. In female, self-reported health status, age of first delivery are found to be significantly related to total mortality rate. Only drinking history is calculated to be associated with cancer mortalities in females. Data from further observation of 'Kangwha cohort' and indepth analyses of these are highly expected.