Awareness of cassava farmers on the use of agrochemicals and the adverse effects associated with them in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State

Abstract

This study was carried out to assess the awareness of Cassava farmers on the use of Agrochemicals and the adverse effects associated with them in  Odigbo local government area of Ondo State. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 140 registered cassava farmers. Well structured  questionnaires were used to obtain information on farmers’ awareness on the use of agrochemicals as well as the adverse effects. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages, mean and ranking. Findings from the study revealed that majority (62.1%) of the respondents had secondary occupation other than farming, also, about 64.4% belonged to farmers' association while 35.6% did not. Most (87.9%) of the respondents claimed to have the knowledge of the effectiveness of agrochemicals over other methods of controlling insect pests, 84.1% respondents agreed that . Insect pest and diseases cause serious problems in arable crop production. About 87.1%, 78.8% and 81.1% of the respondents are aware of air and water pollution, several health problems and skin irritation they suffer due to agrochemical use respectively.  Farmer to farmer information (83.3%) ranked first when assessing the respondent's source of information while information from nongovernmental organizations (NGO) (11.4%) ranked 13th. Most (90.2%) of the farmers apply agrochemicals according to the prescription, 69.7% avoids the use of banned agrochemicals. Also, 83.3% of the respondents avoid the storage of agrochemicals in family bedroom while 82.6% dispose the container properly after use.

Keywords: Agrochemical, Awareness, Knowledge, Pest and Diseases