Abstract

The use of synthetic pesticide poses a great risk to both human and environment health. The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices of pesticide usage and the level of exposure by small scale farmers in Malawi. Pesticides play a vital role in food security. However, they pose a great threat to both human health and environment if they are not properly managed. It is therefore paramount to validate and document the knowledge farmers have about pesticides as it is useful in setting research agenda, planning campaign strategies and forms a basis for constructive collaboration between farmers and researchers (Lekei, 2004). A semi structured questionnaire was used to interface 1014 small scale farmers, from 9 regions across Malawi, in a one-on-one interview to get qualitative and quantitative data, which was analyzed using Turkey multiple comparison test and logistic regression. 42% of the farmers were knowledgeable of the dangers of ingesting food with pesticide residues. Level of farmer’s education, access to training on pesticide handling, gender and farming experience positively and significantly affected knowledge of pesticide use. Thus, farmers with high education, more access to training, males and more farming experience were more aware of risks of using pesticides. Knowledge of pesticide use affected attitude and practices of using synthetic pesticides. About 63% of the farmers keep pesticides in their houses, 65% do not use protective clothing when using pesticides and the majority use women and children to handle pesticides. Farmers handle and apply pesticides without following recommendations on the container thereby ignoring risks and safety instructions, and unsafe dispose of pesticide containers and residual pesticides. The risk of pesticide poising is very high and hence the need to adopt other more efficient alternative control options such as integrated pesticide management (IPM).

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School	: School of Natural and Applied Sciences
Issued Date	: 2023

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