Assessment of precautionary measures in agrochemicals usage among urban arable crop farmers in Oyo state, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper identified the various agrochemicals used by urban farmers and analysed their level of precautionary measures taken to avert hazards associated with the use of the identified agrochemicals. A sample of 120 urban farmers were used for the study. The findings revealed that majority (86.7%) of the respondents were married with relatively high household size. The average annual income from their farming activities was N347,649.38. The common agrochemicals used by the farmers with their trade names were paraquat, diazinion, weed-off, round-up and premextra.. It was observed that that frequency of use of herbicides (b= -0.249) and fungicides (b=0.361) had significant relationship with the level of precautionary measures observed by the farmers. Correlation analysis revealed that level of precautionary measures observed by farmers had a positive relationship with the perceived health effects (r= 0.209; P≤0.022) of agro-chemicals. It was also revealed that farmers’ knowledge of health hazards in relation to agrochemical usages was low. The study recommends rigorous campaign on the hazzards associated with the use of agro-chemicals among urban farmers by extension agents and social workers with a view to reducing the health hazards that may result from improper precautionary measures.

Key Words: Precautionary measures, Agrochemicals, Urban farmers, Arable crops