Principal Component Analysis of Some Pesticide Handling Practices of Small Scale Vegetable Farmers in Rural and Urban Districts in Ghana

Aims: To compare the adherence to pesticide safety standards by small scale vegetable farmers from rural and urban districts in Ghana.

Place and Duration of Study: Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) (Urban District) in Greater Accra Region and Kwaebibirim District (KD) (Rural District) in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The survey was conducted from August – November, 2012

Methodology: Sixty small scale vegetable farmers (30 from AMA and 30 from KD communities) responded to a questionnaire (11 questions) on pesticide handling practices. Principal component analysis with Varimax rotation was used to reduce the 11 questions for fear of redundancy. Factors with eigen value greater than 1 were maintained as they accounted for 77.12% of the variable in the data set. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted on the new factors to determine differences in scores for farmers from AMA and KD (P<.05). SPSS (version 16) was used for the analyses.

Results: After Varimax rotation, 5 new factors (F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5) were retained and they accounted for 77.12% of the variability in the data set. The new factors were renamed based on the factors that loaded in each factor. Farmers in KD had a significant higher mean score (0.70 +/- 0.46) than those from AMA (0.57 +/- 0.29) for F1 (Personal Hygiene and Sanitation). Farmers from AMA had a significant higher mean than those from KD (F = 33.99, P<0.01) for F2 (Eat and drink during or after spraying in the farm). There was no significant difference for F4 (I am the only one who sprays the field) and F5 (I have received training in pesticide application) (P>.05)

Conclusion: Farmers in rural districts (KD) take more precautions during pesticide handling than those in the urban districts (AMA). The age of the farmers may play a role in their behaviour. However, we propose that all farmers undergo training on pesticide use for better utilization with emphasis on farmers in urban districts.