Safety behavior in pesticide use among farmers of northern Greece: the role of information sources

BACKGROUND

Farmers' compliance with common safety practices in pesticide use (i.e., keeping records of pesticide applications, reading the information of pesticide labels, and taking protective measures during pesticide handling) and the use of information sources about pesticides were studied in a simple random sample of farmers in Evros Province, northern Greece.

RESULTS

According to the three common safety practices considered in the study, most farmers (56.9%) complied with safety practices. Nevertheless, a noticeable proportion of the farmers never kept records of pesticide applications (33.9%), never read the information of pesticide labels (20.2%), and never took protective measures during pesticide handling (24.8%). Farmers reported using up to six different sources of information about pesticides, but the majority (51.4%) reported using up to one source and almost one-third (33.9%) relied on own sources. The most common information source about pesticides was the staff of the agricultural supply stores, used by 88.1% of the farmers. Safety behavior was positively correlated with total sources of information (P < 0.01) and information by the agricultural supply stores (P < 0.01). Multiple regression analysis showed that safety behavior was reduced in females, whereas it was increased in farmers with high education, high number of plots, and high level of information sources.

CONCLUSION

Despite good levels of safety behavior by most farmers, keeping records of sprayings should be improved. Using multiple information sources about pesticides is crucial to improve safety behavior of farmers. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Farmers' behavior in reading and using risk information displayed on pesticide labels: a test with the theory of planned behavior

BACKGROUND

Labels are the first source of information for the safe use of pesticides, but farmers rarely read labels before pesticide use. Using data from a sample of 300 orchard farmers in Meshginshar County, Iran, this study examined farmers' intention and behavior in reading and using risk information displayed on pesticide labels, using the theory of planned behavior (TPB).

RESULTS

Only 26% of the respondents mentioned that they read pesticide labels. Most farmers showed a low tendency towards reading pesticide labels due to low education, advanced age, and label-related problems, i.e., use of too technical language and unclear texts with small and illegible fonts. From the three basic variables of the TPB, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control (PBC) showed a significant impact on intention, while attitudes showed no significant impact. The three main variables of the TPB explained 90.2% of the variance in farmers' intention to read and use the labels. Furthermore, PBC and intention significantly affected farmers' actual behavior in reading and using the labels, explaining 78.5% of the variance in farmers' actual behavior. Age, experience in farming, and experience in spraying were negatively correlated with all variables of the TPB.

CONCLUSION

Findings provide new insights into farmers' behavior in reading pesticide labels by using for the first time the TPB. Pesticide manufacturers should consider the special conditions of subsistence farmers (low education and advanced age) when preparing pesticide labels and the extension services could use those findings to improve farmers' training in the use of pesticide labels. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.