Attitudinal behaviour of agriculturalists towards pesticide use in Pir Panjal Range of Kashmir Himalayas.

Abstract

Attainment of safety during pesticide spraying relies on the farmer's knowledge of pesticide use, attitude and sense of safety. However, such investigations are insufficient in the current study area. The study is based on a primary survey of 384 orchardists about the myriad of aspects affecting the use of pesticides and their subsequent effects. The study revealed that knowledge, attitude, and perception had a weighted average index (WAI) and a standard deviation (SD) of 2.85 ± 1.17, 3.55 ± 1.34, and 3.81 ± 0.98 correspondingly. The findings reflect the farmers have a low to moderate level of knowledge, a moderate attitude toward pesticides, and a favourable perception on their utilization. Thus, for farmer personal protective equipment (PPE) use, it scored 2.77 ± 0.90 on the WAI scale, indicating that most farmers use PPEs 'rarely to occasionally' and that none use full protective gear. Furthermore, attitude and PPE usage exhibited a negative relationship with age, as younger people use PPE more than older ones. The findings were consistent for both farming experience and PPE usage. Moreover, there exists a positive association between age with perception and farming experience, knowledge with perception and PPE use, and attitude with perception. The coefficient of determination (R2) shows that 67.2% of the variability in farmers' PPE use was attributed to factors including knowledge, attitude, perception, and education. A favorable behavioral shift in pesticide usage may be achieved by enhancing farmers' knowledge, attitudes and perceptions, and adequate PPE usage.