Assessment of Contribution of Farmers’ Working Conditions to Injuries and Diseases and their Awareness of Safety Precautions in Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the challenges of farmers’ working conditions in relation to injuries and diseases within farming communities and level of awareness on safety precautions in agricultural productivity in Ogun State. Multistage sampling technique was employed in the selection of representative sample for the study. Three(3) local governments (Ijale-papa (IP), Ewekoro (EW), and Obafemi-Owode (OO)) and a total of one hundred and twenty (120) farmers were sampled from the Agricultural zone. Data collected from farmers were demographic, knowledge of personal protective wear, types of injuries and diseases. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The result revealed that 38, 28 and 50 years were the mean age of farmers from IP, EW and OO respectively. All the farmers have good knowledge of personal protective wear in the study areas, and 22.5%, 95% and 30% strongly agreed that the wear is necessary only for pesticide application in IP, EW and OO respectively. Killing of untargeted plants was reported by 60.6%, 83.3% and 94.1% of farmers in IP,  EW  and  OO  respectively as the highest  hazard experienced  from  pesticides use amidst accidental oral ingestion of the herbicide, accidental pouring on the eye, and killing of farm animals. Higher number (27.5%) of farmers in Ijale-papa completed tertiary education while 37.5% and 67.5% of farmers only completed primary school in EW and OO respectively. This educational level in EW and OO may have contributed to their lack of awareness on safety precaution which may further aggravate determinant of reduction in agricultural productivity.