Knowledge and Practices of Safe Use of Pesticides among a Group of Farmers in Northern Iran

BACKGROUND: The unsafe use of chemical pesticides, along with the lack of appropriate preventive protocols and equipment may damage the health of users. OBJECTIVE: To determine the knowledge and practice of the safe use of chemical pesticides by farm workers in northern Iran. METHODS: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 300 farmers in Mazandaran province, in 2017. The data collection instrument was a two-part questionnaire: The first part was concentrated on demographic and agricultural characteristics of the participants; the second part dealt with the farmers' knowledge and practice of the safe use of pesticides. RESULTS: The mean knowledge and practice scores (out of 100) of the participating farmers in the safe use of pesticides were 84.8 (SD 13.5) and 50.8 (13.2), respectively. There was a significant positive correlation (r=0.466, p<0.001) between their knowledge and practice. Wearing protective clothes, while applying pesticides, was among safe practices. Although more than 60% of farmers had a sufficient level of knowledge of the safe use of pesticides, they did not implement their knowledge in practice. There was a significant (p<0.001) association between the education level and knowledge of the safe use of pesticides. CONCLUSION: There was a significant correlation between knowledge and practices of the safe use of pesticides among farmers in northern Iran. There was a clear know-do gap—although the majority of the participants possessed a sufficient level of knowledge of the safe use of pesticides, they did not implement it in practice.