Pesticide use practices among smallholder vegetable farmers in Ethiopian Central Rift Valley

Abstract

Pesticide use is a common practice to control pests and diseases in vegetable cultivation, but often at the expense of the environment and human health. This article studies pesticide-buying and use practices among smallholder vegetable farmers in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia, using a practice perspective. Through in-depth interviews and observations, data were collected from a sample of farmers, suppliers and key governmental actors. The results reveal that farmers apply pesticides in violation of the recommendations: they use unsafe storage facilities, ignore risks and safety instructions, do not use protective devices when applying pesticides, and dispose containers unsafely. By applying a social practice approach, we show that these pesticide-handling practices are steered by the combination of the system of provision, the farmers' lifestyle and the everyday context in which pesticides are being bought and used. Bringing in new actors such as environmental authorities, suppliers, NGOs and private actors, as well as social and technological innovations, may contribute to changes in the actual performance of these pesticides buying and using practices. This article argues that a practice approach represents a promising perspective to analyse pesticide handling and use and to systematically identify ways to change these.

Farmers’ Criteria for Pesticide Selection and Use in the Pest Control Process

“…Hence, the issue is still in an exploratory and premature stage. To identify the criteria items that farmers consider in selecting and using a pesticide product in the pest control operation, an expert panel discussion and a relevant literature survey were carried out [9,19,22,[25][26][27]29,33]. The initial questionnaire items were first examined in three rounds by a panel organized by a plant protection professor, four local extension agents, and three researchers who majored in plant protection products, as well as five key informant farmers in pesticide use.…”

“…Farmers may be involved in pesticide overuse when trying to control different pests [13][14][15] because they often have limited information about pest occurrence and appropriate methods of control [12]. In fact, farmers may have different perceptions of pesticides [9] and, hence, they make their own decisions based on various factors and criteria [9,[16][17][18][19][20]. Thus, understanding what actually drives farmers' voluntary self-behaviors in pesticide use would be an important issue [21] in an appropriate plan for promoting safe behavior in pesticide use.…”

“…A review of the literature indicates that farmers' beliefs about pesticide performance are one of the most important criteria for choosing and using pesticides [9,10,19,[22][23][24]. If a pesticide does not have the necessary effectiveness to quickly kill the target pests, it may be less used by farmers or replaced by another pesticide.…”

“…Conversely, effective pesticides that satisfy farmers are used in higher quantities [10]. Another criterion affecting the use of pesticides that has been considered in various studies is knowledge and information about the appropriate use of pesticides [13,19,20,[25][26][27]. As highlighted by Mengistie et al [19], smallholder farmers are mostly provided with too technical information on pesticides that are hazardous and involve a complex technology.…”

“…Another criterion affecting the use of pesticides that has been considered in various studies is knowledge and information about the appropriate use of pesticides [13,19,20,[25][26][27]. As highlighted by Mengistie et al [19], smallholder farmers are mostly provided with too technical information on pesticides that are hazardous and involve a complex technology. Therefore, sufficient technical information on the correct application of pesticides is required to be delivered to smallholder farmers by various experts through agricultural extension services.…”