Assessment of farmers’ knowledge and pesticides management in cocoa production in Ghana

Fosu-Mensah Et Al

doi:10.21833/ijaas.2022.03.012

Abstract

The use of pesticides to control pests and diseases has been a measure to increase cocoa productivity in Ghana. However, regular use and indiscriminate application of pesticides have unintended environmental and health risks. This study assesses the types of pesticides used by cocoa farmers in Ghana, sources and knowledge on application rate, frequency of application and factors that could influence farmers’ choice of source of pesticides, knowledge on application rate, and frequency of application. Two hundred and forty cocoa farmers from the Dormaa West District of Ghana were interviewed from December 2014 to February 2015 using a pre-tested questionnaire. The results showed that farmers sourced pesticides from agrochemical shops and fellow farmers, with some benefiting from the government of Ghana's ‘‘free mass cocoa spraying’’ program. A majority (51.2%) of the farmers sprayed more than three times per cocoa season. In addition, 35% of the farmers dangerously mixed two or more different pesticides together when spraying. Gender, age, educational level, and income from cocoa farming significantly influenced the choice of source of pesticide while knowledge on pesticides application rate was significantly influenced by educational level of farmers, access to extension services, presence of agrochemical shop, membership of a farm-based organization, and age of a farmer. Frequency of pesticides application was significantly influenced by educational level of farmers, access to extension services, presence of agrochemical shop, membership of the farmer-based organization, knowledge of Ghana COCOBOD recommendation on pesticides application rate, income from cocoa farming, and age of farmers. The majority of the farmers mixed two or more pesticides together during spraying. The limitation of this research is the inability to carry out the survey in other cocoa-growing districts within the study region. There is a need for the training of farmers on the safe use of pesticides by the Ghana COCOBOD to effectively manage pests and diseases and reduce environmental pollution.

Highlights

The use of pesticides to control pests and diseases has been a measure to increase cocoa productivity in Ghana
Among these factors is the incidence of pests and diseases which has been recognized as a major cause of declining yields in cocoa production (Ayenor et al, 2007; Ntiamoah and Afrane, 2008) with adverse consequences on the country’s economy
Pesticides pollutants that get into the soil may persist for a significant time due to their inability to degrade into non-toxic forms (Bempah et al, 2011; Agbeve et al, 2014), possibly in impacting soil organisms such as earthworms, microbes and the natural enemies which act as decomposers (Ntiamoah and Afrane, 2008)

Summary

Introduction

According to Dankyi et al (2014), the high use of pesticides has been mainly due to the government policy of free pesticide spraying of cocoa farms. This is an effort to control pests and diseases to increase cocoa productivity and prevent the use of unapproved or banned pesticides on cocoa farms. The frequency, intensity, and the indiscriminate use of banned/unapproved or approved/recommended pesticides by farmers in the cocoa industry in Ghana may result in large volumes of pesticide residues in the environment (water, soil, plants, air, etc.) with its associated human health consequences (Dankyi et al, 2014; Okoffo et al, 2016). Examples of such health hazards include testicular cancer, reproductive and immune malfunction, endocrine disruptions, cancers, immunotoxicity, neurobehavioral and developmental disorders (Tanner et al, 2011; Cocco et al, 2013; Gill and Garg, 2014)

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