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.
J Agromedicine. 2023 Jul;28(3):470-485. doi: 10.1080/1059924X.2022.2148147. Epub 2022 Nov 20.
There is a strong link between pesticide exposure risk and farmers' safety behavior. However, there is a lack of understanding of farmers' safety behavior in pesticide use and the psychological factors that influence it, especially in Nigeria.
This study aimed to identify safety behaviors in pesticide use and their determinants among cocoa farmers in Nigeria using the Health Belief Model (HBM).
We used a suitable questionnaire to retrieve data from 391 cocoa farmers across three major cocoa-producing belts in Nigeria. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics.
Findings showed that cocoa farmers in this study sprayed insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides on their cocoa farms. The study revealed that most pesticides were not approved for cocoa production by the authority, but the farmers were still using them. The study participants overused surveyed pesticides as the quantities applied were beyond the recommended dosage by the manufacturers. Correlation analysis showed a relationship between education status, pesticide training, perceived susceptibility and cue to action, and the farmers' pesticide overuse. In all, 42.7% of the farmers showed unsafe behaviors, 49.1% showed intermediate behaviors, and just 8.2% reported safe behaviors in pesticide use. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that perceived barriers, susceptibility, self-efficacy, and cue to action were related to age, education status, and farm experience and accounted for 59.3% of the total variance in the farmers' pesticide safety behaviors. Perceived barriers had the most significant negative influence on the farmers' behaviors, while perceived susceptibility, self-efficacy, and cue to action positively influenced the farmers' behavior.
Future intervention programs in Nigeria incorporating significant variables, especially perceived barriers, in their designs with proper implementation could be more effective.
农药暴露风险与农民安全行为之间存在很强的联系。然而，人们对尼日利亚农民在使用农药时的安全行为以及影响这些行为的心理因素缺乏了解。
本研究旨在使用健康信念模型（HBM）来确定尼日利亚可可种植者使用农药时的安全行为及其决定因素。
我们使用合适的问卷从尼日利亚三个主要可可种植带的 391 名可可农民中获取数据。使用描述性和推断性统计方法对数据进行分析。
研究结果表明，本研究中的可可农民在他们的可可农场中喷洒杀虫剂、除草剂和杀菌剂。研究表明，大多数农药未经当局批准用于可可生产，但农民仍在使用。研究参与者过度使用了调查农药，因为施用量超过了制造商推荐的剂量。相关分析显示，教育程度、农药培训、感知易感性和提示行动与农民过度使用农药之间存在关系。总的来说，42.7%的农民表现出不安全行为，49.1%表现出中等行为，只有 8.2%的农民在使用农药时表现出安全行为。多元线性回归分析表明，感知障碍、易感性、自我效能和提示行动与年龄、教育程度和农场经验有关，占农民农药安全行为总方差的 59.3%。感知障碍对农民行为的影响最大，而感知易感性、自我效能和提示行动则对农民行为产生积极影响。
未来在尼日利亚实施的干预计划，将感知障碍等重要变量纳入其设计中，并进行适当的实施，可能会更加有效。
