Pesticide Safety Behavior among Cocoa Farmers in Nigeria: Current Trends and Determinants

ABSTRACT

Background

There is a strong link between pesticide exposure risk and farmers’ safety behavior. However, there is a lack of understanding of farmers’ safety behavior in pesticide use and the psychological factors that influence it, especially in Nigeria.

Objective

This study aimed to identify safety behaviors in pesticide use and their determinants among cocoa farmers in Nigeria using the Health Belief Model (HBM).

Methods

We used a suitable questionnaire to retrieve data from 391 cocoa farmers across three major cocoa-producing belts in Nigeria. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results

Findings showed that cocoa farmers in this study sprayed insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides on their cocoa farms. The study revealed that most pesticides were not approved for cocoa production by the authority, but the farmers were still using them. The study participants overused surveyed pesticides as the quantities applied were beyond the recommended dosage by the manufacturers. Correlation analysis showed a relationship between education status, pesticide training, perceived susceptibility and cue to action, and the farmers’ pesticide overuse. In all, 42.7% of the farmers showed unsafe behaviors, 49.1% showed intermediate behaviors, and just 8.2% reported safe behaviors in pesticide use. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that perceived barriers, susceptibility, self-efficacy, and cue to action were related to age, education status, and farm experience and accounted for 59.3% of the total variance in the farmers’ pesticide safety behaviors. Perceived barriers had the most significant negative influence on the farmers’ behaviors, while perceived susceptibility, self-efficacy, and cue to action positively influenced the farmers’ behavior.

Conclusion

Future intervention programs in Nigeria incorporating significant variables, especially perceived barriers, in their designs with proper implementation could be more effective.

KEYWORDS:

• Pesticides
• safe behavior
• agriculture

Acknowledgments

Our appreciation goes to the Center of Excellence on Hazardous Substance and International Program in Hazardous Substance and Environmental Management, Chulalongkorn University for their support. Moreover, we thank all the study participants for their time and cooperation throughout this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/1059924X.2022.2148147

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by NIH-NIEHS P30 ES005022 and The New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers University; The 90th Anniversary of Chulalongkorn University, Ratchadaphiseksomphot Fund; The Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, The 100th Anniversary Chulalongkorn University Fund for Doctoral Scholarship; Grant for International Research Integration: Chula Research Scholar, Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund (GCURS 59-06-79-01).