ASSEMSSMENT OF FARMERS AWARENESS AND PRACTICE OF HEALTH SAFETRY MEASURES IN THE USE OF AGROCHEMCIALS IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study assessed farmers’ awareness and practice of health safety measures in the use of agrochemicals in Niger State, Nigeria. a total of 150 farmers were randomly sampled from the three geo-political zones of the State, (that is. Interview Schedule was employed for primary data collection. Data collected were analyzed using Descriptive) and Inferential Statistics (Chi-Square and Analysis of Variance, ANOVA). Findings showed that majority of the farmers (81.4%) were within 21 – 50 years old, mostly male (92.0%), with low level of formal education but most of them (70.7%) had more than 20 years farming experience. Results also showed that Yam and Maize crops were being cultivated by majority of the farmers. All the farmers used N.P.K fertilizer, while between 41.3 and 74.1 percent of them did use Atrazine, Weed off, Apron Plus, Fernasan-D and Urea. Results on farmers’ awareness showed that at least 56.7 percent of the farmers were variously aware of 60.0 percent (12) of the health safety measures. Also, at least 62.7 percent of the farmers practiced each of the first 12 identified health safety measures, while at least 75 percent of the farmers practice 30 percent of the health safety measures always. Chi-Square test indicated significant relationships between both educational attainment and farming experiences of the farmers, and their awareness of health safety measure (x2 = 7.84, P<0.05 and x2 = 6.52, P<0.05 respectively). This suggests that the higher the educational attainments and farming experiences of the farmers, the more their awareness about health safety measures and vice-versa. Also, Analysis of Variance results showed statistical significant differences between actual practice (F = 4.81, P<0.05), regularity of practice of health safety measures (F = 3.34, P<0.05) and farmers’ awareness of the safety measures. It can be concluded that despite farmers’ awareness of health safety measures, not many of them practice most of these measures always. It is recommended apart from the creation of more awareness; farmers should be given adequate orientation about health safety measures.