Maumbe Blessing M, Swinton Scott M
Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Africa University, P.O. Box 1320, Mutare, Zimbabwe.
Soc Sci Med. 2003 Nov;57(9):1559-71. doi: 10.1016/s0277-9536(03)00016-9.
Balancing the numerous benefits that may accrue from pesticide use on cotton, farmers face health hazards. Pesticide-induced acute symptoms significantly increased the cost-of-illness in a survey of 280 smallholder cotton growers in two districts of Zimbabwe. Cotton growers lost a mean of 180 Zimbabwe dollars in Sanyati and 316 Zimbabwe dollars per year in Chipinge on pesticide-related direct and indirect acute health effects. These values are equivalent to 45% and 83% of annual household pesticide expenditures in the two districts. The time spent recuperating from illnesses attributed to pesticides averaged 2 days in Sanyati and 4 days in Chipinge during the 1998/1999 growing season. These pesticide health cost estimates represent lower bounds only; they omit chronic pesticide health effects as well as suffering and other non-monetary costs. Acute pesticide symptoms were determined in large part by pesticide use practices, notably the lack of protective clothing. Yet many smallholder farmers misunderstood pesticide health hazards, and so did little to protect themselves. Despite the use of simple color codes, 22% of smallholder cotton growers in Sanyati and 58% in Chipinge did not know how the four colored triangles communicated increasing degrees of pesticide toxicity. Better farmer education in exposure averting strategies is needed. Likewise, fuller accounting for hidden health costs in future would allow farmers to make more informed decisions about agricultural pest management.
在权衡棉花使用农药可能带来的诸多益处时，农民面临着健康风险。在对津巴布韦两个地区的280名小农户棉花种植者进行的一项调查中，农药引发的急性症状显著增加了疾病成本。由于与农药相关的直接和间接急性健康影响，Sanyati地区的棉花种植者平均每年损失180津巴布韦元，Chipinge地区的种植者每年损失316津巴布韦元。这些数值分别相当于这两个地区家庭每年农药支出的45%和83%。在1998/1999种植季节，因农药致病后恢复所需的平均时间在Sanyati地区为2天，在Chipinge地区为4天。这些农药健康成本估计仅为下限；它们忽略了农药对健康的慢性影响以及痛苦和其他非货币成本。急性农药症状在很大程度上取决于农药使用习惯，尤其是缺乏防护服。然而，许多小农户误解了农药对健康的危害，因此几乎没有采取措施保护自己。尽管使用了简单的颜色代码，但Sanyati地区22%的小农户棉花种植者和Chipinge地区58%的种植者不知道四个彩色三角形如何表示农药毒性的不同程度。需要对农民进行更好的避免接触农药策略的教育。同样，未来更全面地核算隐藏的健康成本将使农民能够在农业害虫管理方面做出更明智的决策。
