Some 80 percent of pesticides used by women in parts of Nigeria’s north-central region are highly toxic to humans and require additional regulation, a new survey has found. In many cases, the products had been banned in Europe and elsewhere.
The survey conducted by the Nigerian Small-Scale Farmer Women’s Organization and the Alliance for Action on Pesticides in Nigeria found that 80 percent of products are classified as Highly Hazardous Pesticides.
The survey, supported by the German green organization, Heinrich Boell Foundationit took place in Nasarawa, Benue, Abuja and Plateau, and involved 107 women farmers.
The pesticides found are atrazine, butachlor, carbofuran, cypermethrin, dichlorvos (ddvp), endosulfan, glysulfate, imidacloprid, mancozeb, paraquat, profenofos and triazophos.
“The results of the survey among the interviewed farmers show that more than 80% of the pesticide products and their active ingredients in use belong to the category of highly hazardous pesticides (HHP), and in many cases they have lost approval in countries and regions. with high security. standards such as the European Union (EU),” says the report. A similar AAPN report in 2021 found that 40 percent of all pesticides used in Nigeria had been banned by the EU due to high toxicity.
The new survey set out to determine the pest challenges farmers face and learn about the products they use to address the problem, as well as their knowledge of traditional nature-based pest control methods.
“94.2 percent of the female farmers surveyed use synthetic chemical pesticides to control pest problems on their farms. 5.8 percent do not use any synthetic chemical pesticide products to meet pest challenges,” she said.
It found that 75 percent of women who used chemical pesticides experienced health problems that they attributed to pesticide use.
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According to the report, some of the symptoms identified by the women surveyed were shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, eye problems, skin rashes, runny nose, diarrhea and respiratory problems among the most common health effects reported. .
Regulation call
In an attempt to provide a solution, SWOFON urged the Nigerian government to develop strategies to regulate the use of pesticides for food production. The group advocated for a national pesticide control law and an amendment to the NAFDAC Act.
“An amendment to the NAFDAC law should give NAFDAC the power to immediately ban, suspend, revoke and withdraw any registered pesticide product with an active ingredient that has been shown to be highly dangerous to human life, especially those that are internationally banned,” said the official. group in the survey.
“There is a need for NAFDAC to introduce toxicity color codes on pesticide products (apart from the usual labels) in sections 9 and 10 of the NAFDAC Pesticide Registration Regulations 2019,” he added.
SWOFON President Mary Ishaya advised other farmers’ associations to provide measures for self-regulation on the use and trade of pesticides in the country.
He said this will ensure that locally and internationally banned highly hazardous pesticides are not used, promoted or sold in Nigeria.