Oludoye Oluseye O, Robson Mark G, Siriwong Wattasit
International Postgraduate Program in Hazardous Substance and Environmental Management, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
Center of Excellence on Hazardous Substance Management (HSM), Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2021 Jun 3;14:2357-2368. doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S311223. eCollection 2021.
The aim of this study was to explore the roles of stakeholders on cocoa farmers' safe pesticide use in Nigeria using the socio-ecological model as the theoretical framework.
This was a cross-sectional qualitative study where participants were purposefully selected based on some criteria. Then, they were interviewed in-depth using a semi-structured interview approach. The interview guide was designed based on other literature and the study objectives. The interview transcripts were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the content analysis technique.
In all, 57 participants were involved in the interview process across all the study locations. Five layers of influence (cocoa farmers, pesticide retailers, extension officers, pesticide importers and government agencies) were considered. At individual level, cocoa farmers complained about lack of information from other stakeholders regarding pesticide use except retailers due to the farmers' proximity to their stores. However, pesticide safety information from the retailers were found to be inadequate due to their interest in financial gains rather than a focus on human health and the environment. Additionally, most retailers had no understanding about the characteristics of products they sold as they could not read pesticide labels. Furthermore, lack of motivations, human resources and facilities hindered effective extension education in the rural communities. Also, pesticide importers took efforts to train the farmers within their network, but majority of these trainings focused on lead farmers who were expected to disseminate the information to others. Besides, the agencies did organize training or workshop sometimes, but it was inadequate due to budget constraint. Lastly, environmental or agri-policies relating to Nigerian cocoa farmers concerning safe pesticide use and disposal were also inadequate.
Generally, there was a large information gap with respect to pesticide safety between cocoa farmers and other stakeholders which undermined pesticide use safety. This study highlighted the need for government agencies in Nigeria to develop mechanisms to monitor information exchange among other stakeholders and cocoa farmers with respect to safe pesticide use and disposal.
本研究旨在以社会生态模型为理论框架，探讨利益相关者在尼日利亚可可农安全使用农药方面所起的作用。
这是一项横断面定性研究，根据某些标准有目的地选取参与者。然后，采用半结构化访谈方法对他们进行深入访谈。访谈指南是根据其他文献和研究目标设计的。访谈记录逐字转录，并使用内容分析技术进行分析。
在所有研究地点，共有57名参与者参与了访谈过程。考虑了五层影响因素（可可农、农药零售商、推广人员、农药进口商和政府机构）。在个体层面，可可农抱怨除了零售商外，其他利益相关者缺乏关于农药使用的信息，因为农民离零售商的店铺较近。然而，由于零售商对经济利益的关注而非对人类健康和环境的关注，发现他们提供的农药安全信息不足。此外，大多数零售商不了解他们所售产品的特性，因为他们看不懂农药标签。此外，缺乏动力、人力资源和设施阻碍了农村社区的有效推广教育。农药进口商也努力在其网络内培训农民，但这些培训大多针对带头农民，期望他们将信息传播给其他人。此外，相关机构有时确实组织培训或研讨会，但由于预算限制，这些活动并不充分。最后，与尼日利亚可可农安全使用和处置农药相关的环境或农业政策也不完善。
总体而言，可可农与其他利益相关者在农药安全方面存在很大的信息差距，这损害了农药使用安全。本研究强调尼日利亚政府机构需要建立机制，以监测其他利益相关者与可可农之间关于安全使用和处置农药的信息交流。
