Factors affecting farmers’ safety behavior in the use of chemical pesticides: the role of technical efficiency

Abstract

Pesticides are an essential component of modern agriculture, playing an important role in crop productivity. However, many farmers in developing countries use pesticides without taking the necessary precautions, showing poor levels of personal safety in their use. The aim of this study was to analyze the role of technical efficiency and other factors influencing on the safety behavior of strawberry and cucumber farmers in the use of chemical pesticides in Jiroft and Anbarabad counties of southern Kerman, Iran. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with strawberry and cucumber farmers according to the cultivation areas in each county, using a structured questionnaire. More than half of cucumber farmers (52.9%) and 30.6% of strawberry farmers showed unsafe or potentially unsafe safe behavior (i.e., poor use of personal protection items and poor implementation of hygiene practices) in the use of chemical pesticides. Increasing cultivation area and high yield of strawberry were associated with improved safety levels of farmers in the use of chemical pesticides (P < 0.05). Moreover, being a non-professional farmer and awareness of the negative effects of pesticides improved the safety levels of farmers (P < 0.05). Farmers who efficiently produced strawberry and cucumber crops showed better safety behaviors than inefficient farmers. Findings provide new evidence for effective interventions that could support farmers in the promotion of safety measures during pesticide handling in Iran. Developing and implementing suitable educational programs on pesticide safety must be a top priority for addressing gaps in farmers’ knowledge of the hazards of pesticide exposure.

Keywords:

• Hygiene practices
• Order Logit
• Personal protective items
• Pesticide exposure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors’ contributions

Somayeh Naghavi: conceptualization, methodology, data analysis, software, writing. Mehdi Ahmadyousefi: data collection and investigation, Christos A. Damalas: literature update, data validation, editing, reviewing, Mehdi Mohammadi: data collection.

Data availability statement

The datasets used in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.