Limitations on arable crop producers' use of agrochemicals in Osun State

Abstract

Owing to the possible health and environmental risks associated with the use of agrochemicals, particularly pesticides, a number of techniques have also been developed for determining their residues in a variety of environmental matrices, including soils, plants/foodstuffs, and water. Therefore, restrictions on the usage of agrochemicals by Osun State's arable crop producers were looked at. 150 farmers who grow arable crops were surveyed and interviewed as part of a multi-stage sample process. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentages, and averages, as well as Chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) at the 0.05% significance level, were used to analyse the data. The analysis's findings showed that the majority of respondents (88.7%) were men and that most of them were between the ages of 50 and 59. More than 30.7% had only completed secondary school or less, and the majority (70.0%) were married and lived in households with six to ten people. Fertiliser was used by the majority of responders (100.0%), followed by herbicides (96.0%), fungicides (92.0%), and insecticides (89.3%). Additionally, 92.0% of respondents cited insufficient finance availability as a minor barrier to the use of agrochemicals in the research region.The findings also showed a strong correlation between respondents' usage of agrochemicals and limitations (r = 0.253, p = 0.002). The research comes to the conclusion that respondents' high limitations prevented them from using agrochemicals to simplify their production operations. Therefore, it is advised that the government provide extension services to farmers in order to guide them through the use of agrochemicals and educate them about their abuse.