Farmers' pesticide use, disposal behavior, and pre-harvest interval: A case study from Nigeria
In Sub-Saharan Africa, small farmers rely heavily rely on synthetic pesticides, the overuse of which poses significant risks to human health, the environment, and food safety. Yet detailed empirical evidence on knowledge of and the knowledge and drivers of pesticide management practices remains scar...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Frontiers Media
2025
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173549 |
| _version_ | 1855524814735802368 |
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| author | Gurmui, Mesay Yami Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. Richards, Maiwada Wossen, Tesfamicheal Falade, Titilayo Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen Yamauchi, Futoshi Chamberlin, Jordan Feleke, Shiferaw Abdoulaye, Tahirou |
| author_browse | Abdoulaye, Tahirou Chamberlin, Jordan Falade, Titilayo Feleke, Shiferaw Gurmui, Mesay Yami Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen Richards, Maiwada Wossen, Tesfamicheal Yamauchi, Futoshi |
| author_facet | Gurmui, Mesay Yami Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. Richards, Maiwada Wossen, Tesfamicheal Falade, Titilayo Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen Yamauchi, Futoshi Chamberlin, Jordan Feleke, Shiferaw Abdoulaye, Tahirou |
| author_sort | Gurmui, Mesay Yami |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | In Sub-Saharan Africa, small farmers rely heavily rely on synthetic pesticides, the overuse of which poses significant risks to human health, the environment, and food safety. Yet detailed empirical evidence on knowledge of and the knowledge and drivers of pesticide management practices remains scarce, limiting insights for policymakers and development practitioners. To address this gap, we leveraged on data collected from 1556 tomato producers in Northern Nigeria to investigate the determinants of pesticide use behavior using a sequential-exploratory mixed-method approach. We examined a broader range of pest management-related practices than prior literature, including safety equipment usage, pesticide disposal methods, and adherence to pre-harvest intervals (PHIs)-, which is the intervals between the last pesticide application and the crop harvest. We found substantial noncompliance with the recommended practices: 45% of farmers reuse empty pesticide containers for other purposes, 14% discard them on the farm, 15% burn containers in open fires, and 40% harvest tomatoes within 1--5 days after pesticide application, violating the 7-day PHI guideline. These findings suggest that many tomato farmers adopt unsafe practices, which have adverse implications for their health, the environment, and the safety of food available to consumers. We show that training on pesticide disposal and midstream market channels (e.g., wholesalers and aggregators) are strongly correlated with improved pesticide handling and higher PHI compliance. Overall, our results underscore the need for targeted training programs to enhance farmers' awareness of safe pesticide application, disposal practices, and PHI adherence. These efforts should be complemented by stronger regulatory frameworks and mechanisms to align farmer pesticide use practices with consumer preferences for safe products, as observed by in the higher PHI adherence among farmers selling to midstream actors. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace173549 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media |
| publisherStr | Frontiers Media |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1735492025-12-08T10:29:22Z Farmers' pesticide use, disposal behavior, and pre-harvest interval: A case study from Nigeria Gurmui, Mesay Yami Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. Richards, Maiwada Wossen, Tesfamicheal Falade, Titilayo Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen Yamauchi, Futoshi Chamberlin, Jordan Feleke, Shiferaw Abdoulaye, Tahirou farmers pesticide application harvesting pesticides smallholders food safety integrated pest management In Sub-Saharan Africa, small farmers rely heavily rely on synthetic pesticides, the overuse of which poses significant risks to human health, the environment, and food safety. Yet detailed empirical evidence on knowledge of and the knowledge and drivers of pesticide management practices remains scarce, limiting insights for policymakers and development practitioners. To address this gap, we leveraged on data collected from 1556 tomato producers in Northern Nigeria to investigate the determinants of pesticide use behavior using a sequential-exploratory mixed-method approach. We examined a broader range of pest management-related practices than prior literature, including safety equipment usage, pesticide disposal methods, and adherence to pre-harvest intervals (PHIs)-, which is the intervals between the last pesticide application and the crop harvest. We found substantial noncompliance with the recommended practices: 45% of farmers reuse empty pesticide containers for other purposes, 14% discard them on the farm, 15% burn containers in open fires, and 40% harvest tomatoes within 1--5 days after pesticide application, violating the 7-day PHI guideline. These findings suggest that many tomato farmers adopt unsafe practices, which have adverse implications for their health, the environment, and the safety of food available to consumers. We show that training on pesticide disposal and midstream market channels (e.g., wholesalers and aggregators) are strongly correlated with improved pesticide handling and higher PHI compliance. Overall, our results underscore the need for targeted training programs to enhance farmers' awareness of safe pesticide application, disposal practices, and PHI adherence. These efforts should be complemented by stronger regulatory frameworks and mechanisms to align farmer pesticide use practices with consumer preferences for safe products, as observed by in the higher PHI adherence among farmers selling to midstream actors. 2025-03-19 2025-03-10T17:25:03Z 2025-03-10T17:25:03Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173549 en Open Access application/pdf Frontiers Media Gurmui, Mesay Yami; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Richards, Maiwada; Wossen, Tesfamicheal; Falade, Titilayo; et al. 2025. Farmers' pesticide use, disposal behavior, and pre-harvest interval: A case study from Nigeria. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 9: 1520943. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1520943 |
| spellingShingle | farmers pesticide application harvesting pesticides smallholders food safety integrated pest management Gurmui, Mesay Yami Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. Richards, Maiwada Wossen, Tesfamicheal Falade, Titilayo Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen Yamauchi, Futoshi Chamberlin, Jordan Feleke, Shiferaw Abdoulaye, Tahirou Farmers' pesticide use, disposal behavior, and pre-harvest interval: A case study from Nigeria |
| title | Farmers' pesticide use, disposal behavior, and pre-harvest interval: A case study from Nigeria |
| title_full | Farmers' pesticide use, disposal behavior, and pre-harvest interval: A case study from Nigeria |
| title_fullStr | Farmers' pesticide use, disposal behavior, and pre-harvest interval: A case study from Nigeria |
| title_full_unstemmed | Farmers' pesticide use, disposal behavior, and pre-harvest interval: A case study from Nigeria |
| title_short | Farmers' pesticide use, disposal behavior, and pre-harvest interval: A case study from Nigeria |
| title_sort | farmers pesticide use disposal behavior and pre harvest interval a case study from nigeria |
| topic | farmers pesticide application harvesting pesticides smallholders food safety integrated pest management |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173549 |
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