A Survey on Apple Farmers’ Behaviour Towards Reading and Understanding Pesticide Labels in the Ifrane and Sefrou Provinces, Morocco

Abstract

Apple farmers in Morocco have been using excessive amounts of chemical pesticides, which can lead to adverse health and environmental effects. The objective of this study was to assess the farmers’ attitudes towards reading and understanding pesticide labels and the perceptions of the pesticide risk to human health. This survey included 121 apple farmers in the provinces of Ifrane and Sefrou. The risk of inappropriate pesticide adverse effects was determined by measuring the attitudes towards reading and understanding pesticide labels via the chi-square (χ²) test. The results obtained revealed that the average age of farmers was 44.98 years, and that 32.2% of them always read pesticide labels, 24.0% read them occasionally, while 43.8% never read them. It appeared that the majority of farmers are aware of the risks associated with pesticides, but to varying degrees. Specifically, over half of the farmers (51.2%) believed that pesticides are moderately harmful, 27.3% believed that they are slightly harmful, and 21.5% considered them very harmful. The main barriers to reading and understanding information on labels are low literacy (43.7%), difficulty in understanding and reading this information (28.9%), and reliance on information provided by pesticide sellers (25.6%). The attitudes toward reading pesticide labels were significantly correlated with age, level of education, and training regarding pesticide use. Farmers in the provinces of Ifrane and Sefrou face an increased risk of improper use of pesticides, mainly due to insufficient reading and understanding of the labels of these products. There is an urgent need to increase the comprehension rate of reading labels among apple farmers to ensure the safe use of pesticides, through awareness and training programmes.

Keywords:

Chemical pesticides, apple farmers, labels, risk perceptions, Morocco.