Assessment of Commonly Used Pesticides and Frequency of Self-Reported Symptoms on Farmers Health in Kura, Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

An astonishing 150 million tons of fertilizers and 6 million tons of pesticides are yearly and routinely applied to fields and crops with the purpose of increasing agricultural production. Today modern agriculture relies heavily on the use of pesticides. Hence, instilling confidence and enriching farmers begins with recognizing the need for pesticide use modification, whether through existing or new technologies, such as efficiency, cost reduction or effective decision-making. As many types of rapid toxicity or explicit evidence and platforms provide useful information on the symptoms of human risk and pesticide self-poisoning accounts, which offer the promise of aiding decision-making in a variety of areas, including the regulatory management of chemicals, product, environmental assessment and emergencies. The aim of the present study was to assesses commonly used pesticides application and frequency of farmer’s self-reported symptoms in Kano State, Nigeria. A comprehensive questionnaire was established that focuses on socio-demographic characteristics, education and experience on the adverse health effects associated with the use of the pesticide, description of job practices and a list of used pesticides on the farms in the study area. Of the 400 copies of the administered questionnaires, 392 copies were retrieved and found usable, which represents 98% of the administered questionnaires. A total of 89.5% of the farmers make use of pesticides; of the 351 farmers that made use of pesticides, 31.3% use Apron plus, 12.0% use Atrazine, 33.6% use [Cypermethrin] while 9.7%, 8.5%, 4.8%, 31.3% and 12.0% of the respondents use Sevin, Thiodan, Fusilade, Primextra and others respectively, of the farmers 46.2% had been using the pesticide for 1-5 years, 48.1% had used it for 10-15, regularity of these symptoms reveals that the majority of the respondents experienced these symptoms on a regular basis (56.1% for headache, 53.8% for stomach cramps, 56.5% for muscles weakness, 56.8% for vomiting, 58.3% for dizziness, 40.7% for shortness of breath, 45.5% for blurred vision and 66.7% for eye irritation. It is therefore imperative to focus on chemical pesticides and their toxicity, which should be assessed quickly and new methods should be develop to prioritize human and biological health. Also, structured interventions are required to lessen health risks exposure, as well as training, labeling improvements, and measures to decrease the cost of barriers in the implementation of safety behaviors and promotion of administrative control measures. Likewise, the use of integrated pest management (IPM) strategies in emerging countries such as Nigeria should be encouraged and made possible by a wide variety of public initiatives through translating local data into evidence-based solutions at a grassroots level. Thus, calling for action for local scale participatory citizen science to solve complex chemical pesticides issues at a local, regional, and national scale.

Note: Funding Statement: This researcher did not receive special assistance from the government, not-for-profit sectors or commercial institutions. Declaration of Interests: We affirm that we have no conflict of interest that may be alleged as prejudicing the impartiality of the study reported. Ethics Approval Statement: Ethical approval for the study was sought and gotten from the Institutional Review Board of the Kwara State University. Permission to carry out the research, as well as written consent, was also obtained from the farmers after explaining the purpose of the study to them. This was done by meeting the Kano State Farmers Association.

Keywords: Environmental Media, Health Risk Concerns, Decision Making, Evidence-Based Solutions, Regulatory Management, Bio-Monitoring, Citizen Science, Emergency Response