Abstract:
Pesticides are frequently used in agriculture to manage the pest populations below threshold levels; however, most of the time, their applications do not get the desired outcome. There are many factors for the low performance of pesticides, the quality of water being one of them. Local farmers of Sindh, Pakistan have little or no knowledge of the role of water quality in the performance of pesticides. Therefore, a survey study was conducted to determine the farmer's knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding it. Ten villages were selected from each Hyderabad and Tando Allahyar districts as the information was obtained from five farmers from each village. Descriptive analysis results indicated that most of the respondents prefer to grow cotton (average 24.07 acres) with the majority of them being illiterate (54 %) averaging 39.74 years of age and averaging 18.80 years of farming experience. Most farmers (92 %) used groundwater for spray solution, whereas only 3% of farmers tested the water in their fields. The majority (74.51 %) of farmers considered lower-quality pesticides for their poor performance. Therefore, farmers normally apply up to sixteen sprays to control pests. It was also observed that although farmers have knowledge about the role of water quality in the performance of pesticides to get pest control, they lack the attitude and practice it in their fields. Therefore, it is suggested that awareness should be created among the local farmers regarding water quality to be used in spray solutions to get desired pest control.
Keywords:
Insecticides
,
Pesticides
,
Pest control
,
Water Quality Management