Characterization of herbicide use practices in cereal agroecosystems in western Burkina Faso

Abstract

The use of pesticides often leads to environmental contamination above acceptable levels. The level of contamination is related to poor pesticide application practices, in addition to the properties of pesticides and soil characteristics. The primary objective of this study was to characterize herbicides and their application practices in cereal crops in the regions of Hauts-Bassins, Sud-Ouest, Cascades, and Boucle du Mouhoun in Burkina Faso. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect and extract data from 617 cereal farmers in the four regions. During the survey, the identified herbicides were characterized using pesticide property databases. The survey shows that most cereal farmers in the regions are illiterate (58.18%) and have not received any training in pesticide use (84.28%). Only a small percentage of farmers (1.3%) consult technical services for the selection of herbicides to be used. The survey also revealed that 60% of farmers leave empty herbicide containers in the wild, 39.93% use water sources to clean sprayers, and 17.83% use them to prepare the spray mixture. A total of 25 active ingredients were identified in 117 commercial herbicide products with a total use of 8100 litres and 280 kg. Of the listed herbicides, 45.37% were not approved by the Sahel Pesticide Committee (CSP). Among the non-approved herbicides, 27.78% contained paraquat, atrazine, and acetochlor, which the CSP bans. The study shows that farmers do not follow good practices when using herbicides, which can contaminate different environmental compartments and cause harmful effects to non-target organisms.