Knowledge, attitude and practices of cereal grain sellers towards the use of synthetic and plants-based insecticides for the control of stored maize pests
Keywords:
maize grain sellers, pesticides, botanicals, pesticides residues, KAPsAbstract
Knowledge of indigenous plants with promising insecticidal activities, which are eco-friendly, biodegradable, non-persistent and cost-effective is important for the successful pest management strategy. A cross-sectional study on knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding the use of synthetic and plant-based insecticides for the control of stored maize pests was conducted in the five states in the South Eastern region of Nigeria, namely; Enugu, Abia, Imo, Anambra and Ebonyi between January and March 2021. A well-structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain information on demographics and KAP of 250 cereal grain sellers respondents. Data were summarized with descriptive statistics while Chi-squared test was used to evaluate the association between demographic characteristics, level of education and KAP of respondents. Level of significance were kept at 0.1% confidence interval (p<0.001). The result showed that the number of males 165 (66%) is higher than those of the females 85(34%) and greater preponderance of the respondents were between the age range of 25-49years 145(58%) with majority of respondents’ level of education being primary school189 (75.6%). Respondents’ source information on the type of pesticide to use majorly from agro shops with greater numbers in Ebonyi State (60%) receiving such information from the market. 98% of respondents in Enugu knows about pesticide and use while all the respondents in Abia (100%), Imo (100%), Anambra (100%) and Ebonyi (100%) knows and makes use of synthetic pesticide as crop protectants. Phos toxin and commando belonging to 1A (extremely hazardous) and 1B (highly hazardous) respectively according to WHO classification are commonly used as grain protectants. Health problems associated with pesticide use included headaches, nausea, weakness, dizziness, watery eyes, and vomiting. Among the demographic information of the respondents (gender, age, marital status and educational status), educational status has significant (<0.001) association between knowledge, attitude and practices of cereal sellers as respondents who attended tertiary institution has good knowledge score, attitude and practices towards the use of synthetic insecticides and plant-based botanicals more than those respondents that attended secondary and primary school level. 83 (33.2%) and 167(66.8%) has good and poor knowledge on the use of synthetic insecticide and plant-based botanicals respectively. 88(35.2%) and 162(88%) respondents possess positive and negative attitude respectively. In addition, 57(22.8%) of respondents has good practice whereas 193(77.2%) has poor practice scores towards the use of synthetic insecticides and plant-based botanicals. Organizing health education campaigns directed to maize grain sellers in order to increase their awareness on the pesticide usage, hazards, storage, safety use and also consider the use of plant-based insecticides as a control option in pest management is recommended with immediate implementation.
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