Pesticide Handling Practices and Health Symptoms Among Smallholder Farmers in Rural Bangladesh

Pesticide Handling Practices and Health Symptoms Among Smallholder Farmers in Rural Bangladesh | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Pesticide Handling Practices and Health Symptoms Among Smallholder Farmers in Rural Bangladesh Pranta Sarker, Jyoti Bhaskar Chowdhury, Aritri Bose, Sumit Kumar Sen, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8157239/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: The problem of unsafe pesticide-handling practices among smallholder farmers in Bangladesh is one of the primary concerns of the community population as it provokes both acute and chronic health hazards. Due to the increasing awareness, limited knowledge, lack of adequate use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and unsafe storage and disposal remain. Aim of the study: To assess pesticide-handling practices, knowledge, and related health symptoms among smallholder farmers in rural Bangladesh and identify key factors influencing these practices. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study will be conducted in which 80 conveniently selected farmers of Kotalipara Upazila, district Gopalganj will be interviewed during the period from February 2022 to July 2025. A standardized questionnaire was employed to survey participants on socio-demographics, pesticide knowledge, handling practices such as PPE usage, storage and disposal as well self-reported symptoms of ill-health. The descriptive statistics were carried out by SPSS v26. Result: The sample population consisted of mostly men (80% with a mean age of 41.413.4 years old. The level of awareness regarding pesticide risks and protective measure was 47.5% and 51.3% respectively and 8.8% read label instruction routinely. There was low use of PPE with 26.3 having always used gloves and masks, 11.3 using goggles, and 10 wearing aprons. The most common ones were unsafe storage (82.5% on open shelves) and disposal (53.8% into water). There were acute health symptoms such as weakness (96.3%), skin irritation (95%), eye irritation (91.3%), diarrhea (87.5%), headache (88.8) and nausea (71.3%) that were brought about as a result of frequent pesticide application. It was only 20 percent who sought medical attention. Conclusion: In rural Bangladesh, the smallholder farmers have poor handling behavior on pesticides and this has led to prevalent acute health effects. Specific measures are needed to decrease the exposure and protect the health of farmers, such as organized training, encouraging the use of PPE, more stringent enforcement of the regulations. Agrochemicals Toxicology Pesticide handling Smallholder farmers Personal protective equipment Health symptoms Bangladesh Rural agriculture Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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Bangladesh, Rural agriculture","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8157239/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8157239/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e The problem of unsafe pesticide-handling practices among smallholder farmers in Bangladesh is one of the primary concerns of the community population as it provokes both acute and chronic health hazards. Due to the increasing awareness, limited knowledge, lack of adequate use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and unsafe storage and disposal remain.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAim of the study:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e To assess pesticide-handling practices, knowledge, and related health symptoms among smallholder farmers in rural Bangladesh and identify key factors influencing these practices.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e A cross-sectional descriptive study will be conducted in which 80 conveniently selected farmers of Kotalipara Upazila, district Gopalganj will be interviewed during the period from February 2022 to July 2025. A standardized questionnaire was employed to survey participants on socio-demographics, pesticide knowledge, handling practices such as PPE usage, storage and disposal as well self-reported symptoms of ill-health. The descriptive statistics were carried out by SPSS v26.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResult:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e The sample population consisted of mostly men (80% with a mean age of 41.413.4 years old. The level of awareness regarding pesticide risks and protective measure was 47.5% and 51.3% respectively and 8.8% read label instruction routinely. There was low use of PPE with 26.3 having always used gloves and masks, 11.3 using goggles, and 10 wearing aprons. The most common ones were unsafe storage (82.5% on open shelves) and disposal (53.8% into water). 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