Hazardous Impacts of Pesticide Usage on Farmer’s Health in Cotton Growing Region of District Muzaffargarh, Pakistan

Abstract

Pesticides are the chemicals used to control the crop harms by killing the pests causing various diseases in crop plants, thereby playing vital role in yield and crop production. The ingredients of these chemical pesticides are not only lethal to target arthropods but also for human beings. Therefore, the aim of present study was to find out the perception about the impacts of various pesticide usage on the health of cotton growing farmers in rural areas of District Muzaffargarh, Pakistan. Three villages were selected purposively and 130 farmers were approached to perform a questionnaire via face to face interview. Our findings revealed that a major proportion of the respondents (56.9%) were agreed that pesticides cause illness in cotton growing farmers. The results showed the perceptions of respondents that pesticides were responsible to cause various diseases to a great extent in farmers, like increase in headache (48.5%), fatigue (40.0%), insomnia (45.4%), dizziness (37.7%), hand tremors (42.3%), skin disorders (46.9%), birth defects (36.2%), damage of liver (37.7%), damage of kidney (43.8%), respiratory problems (56.9%) and cancer (29.2%). Our results showed non-significant association between age and impacts of pesticide usage on cotton growing farmer’s health. It was illustrated that health issues were significantly correlated with education, income, lack of awareness, lack of precautionary measures and lack of facilities or personal protective equipment (PPE).There is need to implement risk reduction strategies and to arrange formal training sessions to address the proper use and storage of pesticides.