Potential health effects of pesticide use on farmworkers in Lesotho
SOURCE: South African Journal of Science
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2011
TITLE AUTHOR(S): T.A.Mokhele
KEYWORDS: AGRICULTURE, FARMERS, LESOTHO, PEST CONTROL, PESTICIDES
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 6864
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/3754
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/3754
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2011
TITLE AUTHOR(S): T.A.Mokhele
KEYWORDS: AGRICULTURE, FARMERS, LESOTHO, PEST CONTROL, PESTICIDES
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 6864
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/3754
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/3754
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
This study examined the experiences of farmworkers during crop spraying in Lesotho. The main goal of this study was to determine the perceptions and awareness of farmworkers regarding the use of pesticides and the potential effects on their health. The data were obtained from farmworkers using a combination of an open-ended and a close-ended structured questionnaire in July 2006. Of the nine farms serviced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of Lesotho, Agricultural Research Division, six farms were randomly chosen and 27 farmworkers from these farms were interviewed. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency tables. The results showed that farmworkers are relatively poorly educated and that a greater health risk is present when a lack of training and education on the use of pesticides also exists. That is, the majority (85%) of farmworkers did not have secondary education and most (93%) had no training on the use of pesticides, which poses a great health threat to the farmworkers. A lack of education makes it difficult for farmworkers to read and understand the information labels on pesticides and hence it is difficult for them to understand the health hazards of pesticides and the need for personal safety measures. When using and handling pesticides, 52% of farmworkers did not use rubber gloves and 93% did not use goggles or other forms of face cover. This lack of protection puts them at serious risk of skin exposure to pesticides. The farmworkers were quite aware of the harmful effects of pesticides, but were sometimes unable to translate this awareness into their own safety practices because of a lack of knowledge about the adverse effects. Therefore, training, extension services and various awareness programmes should be promoted in Lesotho in order to increase farmworkers' knowledge and awareness of the adverse effects of pesticides on human health and the environment.-
Related Research Outputs:
- Market access for small-scale farmers in South Africa
- How a smallholder farmer entered and remained in the export market for thirty years
- Visit to Italy for the purpose of attending 18th Symposium of the International Farming Systems Association at the Salesianum, Rome
- The socioeconomics of subsistence farmers
- The socioeconomics of subsistence farmers and the contribution of the social sciences to agricultural development
- Small-scale agriculture, employment and an all-inclusive rural economy
- Factors influencing the use of alternative land cultivation technologies in Swaziland: implications for smallholder farming on customary Swazi nation land
- Environmental education, ethics and action in southern Africa
- Municipal commonage administration in the Northern Cape: can municipalities promote emergent farming?
- Trends and policy challenges in the rural economy: four provincial case studies
- Testimony before the TCOE tribunal
- Municipal commonage administration: can the new-look municipalities promote emergent farming?
- South Africa: a smallholder's innovative approach to producing and exporting fruit
- Prolinnova South Africa: PROromoting Local INNOVAtion in ecologically-oriented agriculture and natural resource management
- What does PROLLINNOVA mean?
- Across the divide: the impact of farmer-to-farmer linkages in the absence of extension services
- Farmland price trends in South Africa, 1994-2005
- Across the divide: the impact of farmer-to-farmer linkages in the absence of extension services
- Smallholder potato production activities in South Africa: a socio-economic and technical assessment of five cases in three provinces
- Local knowledge and agricultural applications: lessons from a Ugandan parish