ACUTE PESTICIDE POISONING AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS AND FARMWORKERS
Case study 5 Mali Country: Mali Partner Organisation: PAN-Mali Year conducted: 2010-11 Number of participants: 357 Description of participants: 73% male, 27% female Location: three villages - Diakorola- Diaka, Kaboïla and Coulibalibougou – in the Sikasso region Protective equipment: Most of the participants wore long sleeves and/or trousers, and thus considered themselves to be protected. Just 6% wore internationally recognised PPE. % pesticide users reporting APP in previous 12 months: 25% of participants reported an incident of APP in the previous 12 months. Signs and symptoms reported by farmers reporting APP: TOP THREE SYMPTOMS: Headache
83%
Excessive sweating
44%
Blurred vision
32%
% seeking medical attention: Went to hospital
8%
No treatment at all
90%
The low numbers of people seeking medical attention at the hospital demonstrates the difficulty in defining the extent of pesticide poisoning – based on this survey, hospital records will produce an underreporting rate of 92%.
Conclusion Farmers in the cotton producing regions of Mali overwhelmingly rely on pesticides for crop protection, but do not have adequate knowledge or equipment to manage the elevated risks of the products available. This survey identified almost universal poor practices. Internationally recommended PPE is virtually absent, although many users do try to use locally available alternatives. This community monitoring project documented the high-risk use of pesticides, including endosulfan despite a ban being in force since 2008 in West Africa. A quarter of farmers surveyed had experienced an incident consistent with acute pesticide poisoning in the last year, citing headaches, blurred vision and excessive sweating, all symptoms typical of nervous system poisoning.
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