Assessment of the Level of Awareness on Agrochemicals’ Safety Measures among Rice Farmers in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the level of awareness of agrochemical safety measures among rice farmers in the Federal Capital  Territory, Nigeria. Multi stage sampling technique was used to sample respondents for the study while primary data were collected using  well-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis were used to actualize the objectives of the  study. The socio-economic characteristics of the respondents showed that majority (82.5%) of the rice farmers were male while 70% of  them were married. The average household size of the respondents was 6.38 while the average age of respondents was 39.06 years, and  this implies that majority of the respondents are still within the productive active age and can effectively engage in farming activities.  Meanwhile, the average year of farming experience of the respondents was 21.31 years. Also, most (53.06%) of them had at least a  secondary school education, their average farm size was 2.3 hectares while the average income of the farmers was N180,035.5. The result  revealed that most of the respondents were aware of agrochemicals’ safety measures, which are wearing of personal protective  equipment when using agrochemicals, operational safety habits, proper disposal practices and safe storage of agrochemicals. Also,  majority (97.22%) of the respondents were aware of the health implications associated with the use of agrochemicals. It was  recommended that more awareness on the implications of unsafe use and exposure to agrochemicals should be carried out through a  series of high level sensitization and enlightenment campaigns.