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Evaluating Perception of Farmers towards the Health Effect of Pesticides: A Cross- Sectional Study in the Oil Palm Plantations of Papar, Malaysia

Introduction: Agriculture is an important occupation in Malaysia that generates a major portion of the national revenue. Similar to elsewhere in the world, pesticides are used to boost agricultural production in Malaysian farms. However, chemical pesticides are associated with human health hazard a...

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Main Authors: Shameer Khan, Yusoff Ibrahim, Mohammad Saffree Jeffree
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
R Medicine (General)
Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/24671/2/Evaluating%20Perception%20of%20Farmers%20towards%20the%20Health%20Effect%20of%20Pesticides%20A%20Cross-%20Sectional%20Study%20in%20the%20Oil%20Palm%20Plantations%20of%20Papar%2C%20Malaysia.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/24671/
https://doi.org/10.4172/2329-955X.1000196
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spelling my.ums.eprints.246712020-01-23T02:40:59Z https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/24671/ Evaluating Perception of Farmers towards the Health Effect of Pesticides: A Cross- Sectional Study in the Oil Palm Plantations of Papar, Malaysia Shameer Khan Yusoff Ibrahim Mohammad Saffree Jeffree R Medicine (General) Introduction: Agriculture is an important occupation in Malaysia that generates a major portion of the national revenue. Similar to elsewhere in the world, pesticides are used to boost agricultural production in Malaysian farms. However, chemical pesticides are associated with human health hazard and are not environment friendly as they persist in nature for long periods of time. Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed 19 palm oil plantations in the Sabah district of Malaysia and evaluated the perception of the workers towards pesticide use and their awareness regarding the health effects associated with pesticide exposure. Results and discussion: Our analysis shows that most of the workers among the 270 respondents were 30-year-old males with average education, and belonged to the low-income group. Majority opined that they were aware of the health hazards of pesticide use and suffered from symptoms (with mean duration of three days) such as vomiting, diarrhea, skin irritation, and dizziness. Surprisingly, the opinion was almost equally divided on whether they perceived pesticides to be the cause of their health problems, and a major percentage did not avail of medical help. Most of the workers responded that they did not receive any training in pesticide handling. Interestingly, they would not read the safety material even if it was provided. Conclusion: We concluded that the farmers should also be educated about alternative and eco-friendly ways of farming. Finally, the plantation management should intervene and proactively advocate the use of safe farming practices. 2018 Article PeerReviewed text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/24671/2/Evaluating%20Perception%20of%20Farmers%20towards%20the%20Health%20Effect%20of%20Pesticides%20A%20Cross-%20Sectional%20Study%20in%20the%20Oil%20Palm%20Plantations%20of%20Papar%2C%20Malaysia.pdf Shameer Khan and Yusoff Ibrahim and Mohammad Saffree Jeffree (2018) Evaluating Perception of Farmers towards the Health Effect of Pesticides: A Cross- Sectional Study in the Oil Palm Plantations of Papar, Malaysia. Journal of Plant Physiology & Pathology, 7 (1). https://doi.org/10.4172/2329-955X.1000196
institution Universiti Malaysia Sabah
building UMS Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sabah
content_source UMS Institutional Repository
url_provider http://eprints.ums.edu.my/
language English
topic R Medicine (General)
spellingShingle R Medicine (General)
Shameer Khan
Yusoff Ibrahim
Mohammad Saffree Jeffree
Evaluating Perception of Farmers towards the Health Effect of Pesticides: A Cross- Sectional Study in the Oil Palm Plantations of Papar, Malaysia
description Introduction: Agriculture is an important occupation in Malaysia that generates a major portion of the national revenue. Similar to elsewhere in the world, pesticides are used to boost agricultural production in Malaysian farms. However, chemical pesticides are associated with human health hazard and are not environment friendly as they persist in nature for long periods of time. Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed 19 palm oil plantations in the Sabah district of Malaysia and evaluated the perception of the workers towards pesticide use and their awareness regarding the health effects associated with pesticide exposure. Results and discussion: Our analysis shows that most of the workers among the 270 respondents were 30-year-old males with average education, and belonged to the low-income group. Majority opined that they were aware of the health hazards of pesticide use and suffered from symptoms (with mean duration of three days) such as vomiting, diarrhea, skin irritation, and dizziness. Surprisingly, the opinion was almost equally divided on whether they perceived pesticides to be the cause of their health problems, and a major percentage did not avail of medical help. Most of the workers responded that they did not receive any training in pesticide handling. Interestingly, they would not read the safety material even if it was provided. Conclusion: We concluded that the farmers should also be educated about alternative and eco-friendly ways of farming. Finally, the plantation management should intervene and proactively advocate the use of safe farming practices.
format Article
author Shameer Khan
Yusoff Ibrahim
Mohammad Saffree Jeffree
author_facet Shameer Khan
Yusoff Ibrahim
Mohammad Saffree Jeffree
author_sort Shameer Khan
title Evaluating Perception of Farmers towards the Health Effect of Pesticides: A Cross- Sectional Study in the Oil Palm Plantations of Papar, Malaysia
title_short Evaluating Perception of Farmers towards the Health Effect of Pesticides: A Cross- Sectional Study in the Oil Palm Plantations of Papar, Malaysia
title_full Evaluating Perception of Farmers towards the Health Effect of Pesticides: A Cross- Sectional Study in the Oil Palm Plantations of Papar, Malaysia
title_fullStr Evaluating Perception of Farmers towards the Health Effect of Pesticides: A Cross- Sectional Study in the Oil Palm Plantations of Papar, Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating Perception of Farmers towards the Health Effect of Pesticides: A Cross- Sectional Study in the Oil Palm Plantations of Papar, Malaysia
title_sort evaluating perception of farmers towards the health effect of pesticides: a cross- sectional study in the oil palm plantations of papar, malaysia
publishDate 2018
url https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/24671/2/Evaluating%20Perception%20of%20Farmers%20towards%20the%20Health%20Effect%20of%20Pesticides%20A%20Cross-%20Sectional%20Study%20in%20the%20Oil%20Palm%20Plantations%20of%20Papar%2C%20Malaysia.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/24671/
https://doi.org/10.4172/2329-955X.1000196
_version_ 1760230267451080704
score 13.211869

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