Understanding farmers’ safety behavior regarding pesticide use in Morocco

Unsafe pesticide use is a significant concern in rural areas, resulting in serious threats to farmer and environmental health. This problem can be especially severe in developing countries, including Morocco. However, few studies have explored the factors influencing farmers’ safety behavior regarding pesticide use in this country. Hence, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 232 arboricultural farmers in 12 counties of Morocco's Saïss Plain to assess farmers’ pesticide safety behavior. Farmers’ characteristics, knowledge of pesticides, perceived risk, health consequences, subjective norms, and safety behavior data were collected and analyzed using a structural equation model (SEM). The majority of farmers have long term experience with pesticide use, but they followed poor safety practices, including insufficient use of personal protective equipment during pesticide handling. As a result, farmers showed a high incidence of health problems related to pesticide use (e.g., skin irritation and headaches). Unsafe pesticide handling was mostly attributable to farmers’ low education levels and insufficient training. Consequently, farmers applied high amounts of pesticides to increase production quantities (an average of 12.02 kg/ha per growing season). Although banned in the country, considerable use of organochlorines (i.e., endosulfan) and organophosphorus (i.e., chlorpyrifos ethyl and chlorpyrifos methyl) were reported. Adherence to safety behaviors while handling pesticides significantly improved with high levels of pesticide knowledge (standardized path coefficient, SPC = 0.31) and the perceived severity of the associated health risks (SPC = 0.27). Conversely, uncertainty about the risks of pesticide use was associated with a lower likelihood of adopting safety measures (SPC = 0.24). Improved knowledge of safe pesticide handling and training courses on the risks posed by pesticide exposure to human and environmental health are urgently needed to improve farmers’ safety behavior in Morocco.

Jaar van publicatie:2021

BOF-keylabel:ja

IOF-keylabel:ja

BOF-publication weight:3

CSS-citation score:3

Auteurs:International

Authors from:Private, Higher Education

Toegankelijkheid:Open