Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.
Department of Agricultural Management, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Rasht, Iran.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Apr;28(14):17812-17825. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-11821-w. Epub 2021 Jan 5.
Pesticide labels and pictograms are the first and utmost source of information for safe use and personal protection of farmers and a legally binding document against environmental degradation reinforced by governments. The influence of pictogram information on the safe use of pesticides depends on the importance of pictogram to farmers and how they interpret its information. The present study explores farmers' interpretation of risk assessment data of pictograms displayed on pesticide labels. The statistical population is composed of all wheat and potato farmers in Ardabil County (N = 4964) of which 200 farmers were sampled based on Morgan's sampling table. Data were collected using a questionnaire for the 2018-2019 cropping year. The content validity of the research instrument was determined by a panel of faculty members and its reliability was confirmed by the coefficient of Cronbach's alpha. Results indicated that farmers had poor understanding of the pictograms. Unclarity of pictograms, inability to understand their meaning, and low literacy or illiteracy were the main causes of poor understanding of pictograms, respectively. Educational level, extension training, and attitude also had a positive significant relationship with pictogram comprehension. On the other hand, pictogram comprehension did not show a significant correlation with the use of personal protective equipment and the adoption of safety measures during pesticide handling and application. The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that the variables of attitude towards pictograms, information sources, educational level, and attending training courses on chemical pesticides were the main factors underpinning pictogram understanding so that they altogether accounted for 58% of the variance in the dependent variable of the research.
农药标签和象形图是农民安全使用和个人防护的首要和最重要的信息来源，也是政府加强防止环境退化的具有法律约束力的文件。象形图信息对农药安全使用的影响取决于象形图对农民的重要性以及他们如何解释其信息。本研究探讨了农民对农药标签上显示的象形图风险评估数据的解释。统计总体由阿尔达比勒县（N=4964）的所有小麦和土豆农民组成，其中根据摩根抽样表抽取了 200 名农民作为样本。数据是在 2018-2019 年作物种植期间使用问卷收集的。研究工具的内容有效性由一组教员确定，其可靠性通过 Cronbach 的 alpha 系数得到确认。结果表明，农民对象形图的理解很差。象形图不清晰、无法理解其含义以及文化程度低或文盲是造成象形图理解差的主要原因。教育程度、推广培训和态度也与象形图理解呈正相关关系。另一方面，象形图理解与使用个人防护设备以及在处理和应用农药时采取安全措施之间没有显著相关性。多元回归分析的结果表明，对象形图的态度、信息来源、教育程度和参加化学农药培训课程等变量是理解象形图的主要因素，它们共同解释了研究因变量方差的 58%。
