Oyekale Abayomi Samuel
Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, North-West University Mafikeng Campus, Mmabatho 2735, South Africa.
Toxics. 2022 Aug 6;10(8):454. doi: 10.3390/toxics10080454.
Cocoa is one of the major cash crops in Nigeria and its production is directly related to the effective utilization of agrochemicals. This paper analysed the factors influencing cocoa farmers’ compliance with agrochemical safety regulations. The data were collected from 326 cocoa farmers from Ogun and Osun states, using multi-stage sampling procedures. The data were analysed with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and an Endogenous Tobit Regression model. The results showed that majority of the farmers were primarily growing cocoa and average ownership of personal protective equipment (PPE) was less than two. Awareness of manufacturers’ instructions was high for insecticides and fungicides, while majority of the farmers were not eating or drinking while handling agrochemicals. Safety compliance indicators were significantly influenced (p < 0.10) by farmers’ ownership of PPE, education, age, awareness of manufacturers’ safety instructions and health status. It was concluded that utilization of PPE was very low among the farmers and efforts to facilitate safety training on the use of different agrochemicals will facilitate safety compliance through proper understanding of manufacturers’ instructions.
可可豆是尼日利亚的主要经济作物之一，其产量与农用化学品的有效利用直接相关。本文分析了影响可可豆种植农户遵守农用化学品安全规定的因素。采用多阶段抽样程序，从奥贡州和奥孙州的326名可可豆种植农户收集数据。运用主成分分析（PCA）和内生性 Tobit 回归模型对数据进行分析。结果表明，大多数农户主要种植可可豆，个人防护装备（PPE）的平均拥有量不足两件。农户对杀虫剂和杀菌剂的制造商说明知晓度较高，而大多数农户在处理农用化学品时不吃喝。农户的PPE拥有情况、教育程度、年龄、对制造商安全说明的知晓度以及健康状况对安全合规指标有显著影响（p < 0.10）。研究得出结论，农户中PPE的使用率很低，通过适当了解制造商说明来开展不同农用化学品使用安全培训的工作将有助于提高安全合规性。
