Knowledge, attitude, and practice of Indonesian farmers regarding the use of personal protective equipment against pesticide exposure

Abstract

The use of synthetic pesticides in tropical countries has increased over the years, following the intensification of agriculture. However, awareness among farmers of the importance of protecting themselves from hazards associated with pesticide application is still lacking, especially in Indonesia. This paper reports results of an inventory on knowledge and attitudes regarding pesticide use by melon farmers of a village in Central Java, Indonesia. The importance of using personal protective equipment such as hats, masks, goggles, boots, and gloves on agricultural land is known and well understood by the farmers. However, in practice, only 3.8 % were wearing glasses and 1.9 % were using boots. In fact, the masks used only consisted of a part of their shirt tied around the mouth. The farmers were not wearing long pants and shirts with long sleeves and used the same clothes for more than 1 day without washing. Almost no farmers used personal protective equipment that was standard, in good condition, and complete. Based on the results of statistical analysis, no significant relationship was found between knowledge and attitude on the required practices on the one hand and the use of personal protective equipment in practice on the other hand. This shows that improved knowledge and attitudes are not enough to change the behavior of farmers to work in a healthy and safe way. The gap between knowledge and practice needs to be bridged by a more interactive and participatory training model. It is therefore of paramount importance to develop a special toolkit for pesticide risk reduction which is developed in a participatory manner involving the farmers as the main actors through a series of focus group discussions and field simulations.

Association of health symptoms with low-level exposure to organophosphates, DNA damage, AChE activity, and occupational knowledge and practice among rice, corn, and double-crop farmers

“…These findings were in conformity with that by Tamrin and Jamiluddin (2014) who reported that the knowledge score of pesticide management was high; however, the practice score, especially the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), was very poor 21) . In addition, the study by Yuantari et al (2015) suggested that almost none of the farmers used standardized PPE and used PPE completely 22) .Itmay be due to the high cost of PPE, hot tropical climatic conditions, poverty, or lack of training programs by the government 21,[23][24][25] . Some farmers had an inappropriate protective behavior, such as eating, drinking, smoking, taking a break, blowing or sucking a spray nozzle with their mouth, and spraying when it was windy.…”

Discovery of New Classes of Compounds that Reactivate Acetylcholinesterase Inhibited by Organophosphates

“…Whereas the threat of a nerve agent attack on the civilian population has remained largely theoretical, the broad use of the pesticides in agriculture leads to a large number of cases of pesticide poisoning [2] in the developing world. A lack of accurate reporting makes the data on the actual number of fatalities due to OPC toxicity difficult to determine, [3] but the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes this as a significant problem that needs to be addressed.…”

Applying Hierarchical Task Analysis to Depict Human Safety Errors during Pesticide Use in Vineyard Cultivation

“…This is in line with the findings of Fan et al [24], who highlighted that farmers get confused by the complexity of guidelines related to the proper use of pesticides; hence, they tend to misuse pesticides, reducing their protective behavior. Accordingly, the research related to the knowledge and attitudes on the use of pesticides needs to be further developed, focusing on farmers' practices [25]. In the agricultural field, several studies have investigated the safe behavior and risk perception of farmers.…”