ASSESSMENT OF FARMERS’ COMPLIANCE WITH NON-USAGE OF BANNED AGROCHEMICALS: CASE STUDY OF AMARANTH FARMERS IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

The study assessed the compliance of Amaranth farmers with non-usage of banned agrochemicals in the selected Amaranth producing Local Government Areas of Ekiti State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select one hundred and twenty farmers from three Amaranth producing Local Government Areas of Ekiti state. The average age of the farmers was 41years with majority (81.7%) as males. They had an average year of schooling as approximately 10years with an average annual income of 212,000 Naira. In addition, majority of the amaranth farmers (99.2%) were aware that some agrochemicals have been banned. Moreover, 85 percent of the Amaranth farmers obtained information on the use of agrochemicals from sales agents (agrochemicals retailers), 77.5 percent from fellow farmers and 32.5 percent from Extension workers. Consequently, all the respondents indicated that they were using agrochemicals for the production of Amaranth and they also indicated that they still used some of the banned chemicals as 87 percent still use Gammalin, (gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane) 17 percent still use DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) and 16 percent still use Aldrex due to their effectiveness in the control of pest and diseases (98%), inexpensive (66%), availability in market (59%) and advice from sales agent (58%). The findings revealed that Amaranth farmers have low compliance to non-usage of banned agrochemicals and therefore recommended that there should be adequate registration of all approved agrochemicals as well as enlightenment of Amaranth farmers, sellers, and suppliers of the agrochemicals in each of the Amaranth producing regions of the state.