Farmers’ Knowledge of Health Hazards Associated with Herbicide Use in Enugu State, Nigeria

This study assessed farmers' knowledge of health hazards associated with herbicide use in Enugu State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to ascertain farmers’ knowledge level of health hazards associated with herbicide use and the constraints faced by farmers in accessing information on health hazards associated with herbicide use. The influence of farmers’ socio-economic characteristics on knowledge of health hazards associated with herbicide usage was equally tested. A structured interview schedule was used to obtain information from 180 crop farmers. Frequency, percentages, mean, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis. Findings reveal that 43.0% of the farmers had low knowledge of health hazards associated with herbicide use. Perceived constraints to assessing information on health hazards associated with herbicide usage were lack of radio programmes on health hazards associated with herbicide use (0.815), too much technical information on the users’ guide (0.788), and conservative attitude of farmers (0.607) among others. The number of years spent in acquiring formal education (t=3.483; p=0.001), farm-size (t=4.804; p=0.000) and membership of social organizations (t=2.005; p=0.047) had significant positive influence on farmers’ knowledge of health hazards associated with herbicide use. Farmers’ poor knowledge on health hazards associated with herbicide use should be addressed by extension agents using more innovative ways of reaching out to farmers in their local languages.