Discussion The case studies presented in this report all show that acute pesticide poisoning affects a significant proportion of the farmers questioned (Table 5). The study which recorded the lowest level of APP was from Moldova where 10% of respondents said they experienced poisoning, meanwhile 82% of respondents in Belarus reported a poisoning event in the previous 12 months. Both of these surveys had low sample sizes.
TABLE 5. SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF SURVEYS OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS WHO USE PESTICIDES, SHOWING % SELF REPORTING INCIDENTS OF ACUTE PESTICIDE POISONING OVER A 12 MONTH PERIOD. YEAR
COUNTRY
N (PESTICIDE USERS)
% APP
2011
Mali
357
25
2015
Armenia
25
44
2015
Belarus
49
82
2015
Georgia
117
14
2015
Moldova
73
10
2015
Kyrgyzstan
124
56
2015
Ukraine
161
59
2016
Georgia
591
20
2016
Benin
493
42
2018
Ethiopia
90
28
2018
Benin
507
51
Just three studies revealed poisoning rates of less than 20%, while more than half of the surveys uncovered rates in excess of 40%. Many of these poisonings involved “minor” and general symptoms such as headaches or dizziness, but the studies also uncovered many serious incidents including loss of consciousness and seizures. The studies also showed that a significant minority of farmers experience multiple poisoning incidents in a year. In Benin for example, around a fifth of farmers questioned reported experiencing more than six poisoning incidents in the previous year. Some of the case studies presented explored the “conditions of use” – the way that pesticides are used in reality – to identify common routes of exposure and risky practices or behaviour that can lead to poisoning. This information is helpful to guide policy makers in targeting interventions to reduce poisonings. These show that many of the assumptions made by regulators when approving pesticides for use in their countries – such as access to PPE, training and information – are not valid. In Tanzania for example, farmers regularly mix the same type of insecticides or different insecticides in a spray. And very few farmers use internationally recognised PPE. Just 6% of farmers in Mali and 0.2% of the farmers questioned in Georgia used PPE. Other common practices identified included spraying into the wind, reusing pesticide containers, storing pesticides at home, repackaging pesticides into other containers, and using pesticides licensed for use on animals on food crops. Alarmingly, some, of the studies revealed that vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children work with pesticides. Over a third of the children questioned in the Moldovan case study, and a quarter of those questioned in Kyrgyzstan reported handling pesticides. The risk to farming families and communities living on or near these farms is significant. The study in Senegal showed that 7% of women surveyed reported acute pesticide poisoning incidents despite the fact that they did not themselves apply pesticides.
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