Pesticides Use in Pest Management: A Case Study of Ewaso Narok Wetland Small-scale Vegetable Farmers, Laikipia County, Kenya Pesticides Use in Pest Management: A Case Study of Ewaso Narok Wetland Small-scale Vegetable Farmers, Laikipia County, Kenya

Abstract

Small-scale farmers in Ewaso Narok wetland, Laikipia County in Kenya are mainly horticultural farmers who apply pesticides for their vegetable management. A structured questionnaire was used to assess farmer's knowledge and practices on pesticide management on 86 farmers purposively selected. The results showed that 60% of the farmers did not use protective clothing, 38.4% were not aware of dangers of mixing different pesticides chemicals while 97% had no formal training in pesticide management. Except for the 76% of farmers who were aware of the pesticides routes of exposure to the human body, all others parameters associated with good pesticide practices ranged low (16-39%).  Farmer's pesticide practices correlated to the farmer's socio-demographic attributes (age, education, and gender).These included the use of personal protective equipment (39%), reading pesticide labels before use (25%) among other practices. The general poor pesticide practices among farmers in the wetland all for an immediate, comprehensive measure of reducing pesticide exposure and mitigating effects on human and environment. This study recommends adoption of good agricultural practices (GAP) and further investigation on pesticide residue levels in food crops produced from the study area.