INDISCRIMINATE USE AND IMPROPER APPLICATION OF PESTICIDES BY JORDANIAN VEGETABLE AND FRUIT FARMERS

Abstract

The majority of Jordanian farmers do not understand the harmful effects that pesticides have on health and environment.The fate and impact of pesticide application in Jordan remain unknown in the public and farmer eye.For this purpose, Jordanian farmers were questioned about their social aspects, types of pests encountered, and pesticide knowledge, practices, safety and resources by conducting a country-wide survey of farmers during 2014.The results revealed that 66% of respondents had good knowledge of pesticide use, and 85% of them read the label before applying pesticides.Approximately 56% of the farmers applied pesticides when necessary, while 29% applied pesticides weekly.A very high percentage (93%) of farmers believed that they will still apply pesticides in the coming years.Almost 74% of the farmers were found to use both preventive and cure pesticide, 73% applied pesticide at the morning and only 39% at the evening.Medium pesticide' rate was applied by 59% and higher rate by 38% of the farmers.The data indicated that a wide variety of chemicals were being applied by the farmers.Using bio-pesticide had less importance by farmers.The farmers had faced many pesticide-related illnesses and injuries.About 14% of farmers did not wear protective cloths during application, 11% stored pesticide in house, 58% burned empty containers, and 39% did not keep any records.Private consultants and pesticide' companies (42%) were the most popular source of information.Almost 25% of farmers had been involved in pesticide' training program, and 78% reported seeking for information about pesticide.On the other hand, education was positively and significantly correlated with knowledge of pesticide use and farmers involvement in pesticides training programs, while reading label was positively and significantly correlated with education and negatively with age.There was a positive and significant correlation between involvement in pesticides training program and knowledge of pesticides use.In conclusion, farmers depend heavily on pesticides use for pest control, and the survey has shown some overuse, misuse and abuse of pesticides.