Compliance of agrochemical marketers with banned cocoa pesticides in southwest Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the compliance of marketers of agrochemicals with the approved and banned cocoa pesticides in selected cocoa producing states of southwest Nigeria. Primary data was collected through the use of structured questionnaire administered to randomly selected agrochemical marketers. All the marketers (100%) were aware of the recently banned cocoa pesticides, however, majority still have the pesticides in stock. About 70.6% of the marketers in Osun state and 58.8% in Ogun state stated that they did not receive information on the banned pesticides from government agencies but through other channels. More than half of the marketers (52.9% in Ogun, 55% in Kwara and 47.1% in Osun) strongly disagreed that government should place a ban on pesticides. Availability of banned pesticides in their stock, insufficient information from the concerned government agricultural agencies, and fear of short supply of approved pesticides are among the reasons proffered by the marketers for not supporting the ban of pesticides. Relevant government regulatory agencies should conduct a comprehensive inventory of pesticides offered for sale by the marketers of agrochemicals. There should be massive public awareness programme, and wellcoordinated association for all the marketers of agrochemicals. Agrochemical manufacturers should translate instructions and warnings on pesticide labels to local languages understood by the farmers.U ovom radu je istraživana usaglašenost prodavaca agrohemikalija sa odobrenim i zabranjenim pesticidima koji se koriste u državama jugozapadne Nigerije koje prizvode kakao. Primarni podaci su prikupljeni pomoću struktuiranog upitnika koji je podeljen slučajno odabranim prodavcima agrohemikalija. Svi prodavci (100%) su bili upoznati sa nedavno zabranjenim pesticidima za kakao, ali ipak većina njih i dalje ima te pesticide u ponudi. Oko 70,6% prodavaca u državi Osun i 58,8% u državi Ogun je navelo da nisu dobili nikakvu informaciju u vezi sa zabranjenim pesticidima od vladinih agencija, već putem drugih kanala. Više od polovine prodavaca (52,9% u državi Ogun, 55% u državi Kwara i 47,1% u državi Osun) se oštro usprotivila tome da vlada treba da stavi zabranu na pesticide. Dostupnost zabranjenih pesticida u skladištima, nedovoljno informacija od odgovarajućih vladinih agencija za poljoprivredu, kao i strah od nestašice odobrenih pesticida su među razlozima za nepodržavanje zabrane korišćenja pesticida koje su naveli prodavci. Relevantne vladine regulacione agencije treba da sastave svebuhvatan spisak pesticida koje prodaju prodavci agrohemikalijama. Takođe bi trebalo obezbediti i program o javnoj svesti, kao i dobro koordinisano udruženje za sve prodavce agrohemikalija. Proizvođači agrohemikalija bi trebalo da prevedu uputstva i upozorenja na etiketama koje se nalaze na ambalažama pesticida na lokalne jezike koje poljoprivrednici razumeju.