Perception of cassava farmers on the use of agrochemicals in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the perceptions of Cassava farmers on the use of Agrochemicals in odigbo local government area of Ondo State. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 140 registered cassava farmers. Well structured questionnaires were used to obtain information on farmers’ perception to the use of agrochemicals. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentages. The findings from the study showed that, majority (62.9%) of the respondents were male, married (78.0%) and had at least primary school education (78.7%). Also, majority (61.4%) of the respondents had high level of knowledge of agrochemicals usage and patronized most agrochemicals based on “trade name” and not the active ingredient contained in the product. However, agrochemicals were highly in use by the respondents in this study, some of the pesticides encountered includes: Karate, Sevin, Thiodan, Dursban48EC, Proteus 170 O-TEQ, Fusillade, Actara 25WG, Cypermetrin, Roundup, Touchdown, Atrazine, Gramozone, Urea, NPK etc. . The respondents’ strong agreement to the perceptional statements on the use of Agrochemicals include: improvement in crop appearance and marketability (52.3%), stress free (47.7%). 42.4% were of the opinion that agrochemical usage leads to several health problem.

Keywords: Agrochemical, Perception, Hazards, Pesticide, Contraction and Agriculture