Farmers' Perceptions and Practices in Managing Vegetable Pests and Pesticide Use in the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia: In the Case of the Koga Irrigation System

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This experiment was carried out to assessment of farmers’ perceptions, knowledge, and current management practices on the major pests among vegetable growers in the Koga irrigation system, Ethiopia. Understanding the farmers’ awareness and pest management is essential for designing a research agenda, and awareness creation. The survey was carried out from November 2020 to March 2021 in Koga irrigation, with a total of 63 vegetable growers. A semi-structured questionnaire was used. Almost all farmers in the study area overwhelmingly depend on pesticides to control the pests on their vegetable crops. Profenofos, Dimethoate, and Lambda-cyhalothrin were dominantly and commonly used insecticides in the study area with different trade names for more than two vegetables. There are two common and widely used fungicides named Metalaxyl-M 68 %WG and Mancozeb regarding disease control. The farmers used wrong application techniques, inappropriate spraying, wrong storage practices, and protective measure of pesticides. This wrong perception and practice could be associated with their limited knowledge about pesticides and related activities. Hence, it is recommended that government or non-governmental organizations should focus to improve the misuse and misperception of farmers in pesticide use, including personal and environmental protection through education and community intervention.