Zimbabwe hazards - too close to home

Evidence from the Zimbabwe Institute of Permaculture (ZIP) Research shows farmers are dependent on costly agro-inputs and have easy access to dangerous chemicals, leading to increasing numbers of casualties in rural communities.

Farmer applying dimethoate with a brush and bucket

During colonial times Zimbabwe was dominated by the Green Revolution approach, and even since independence in 1980, agricultural policies have been directed towards high input cash cropping. This thrust has been at the expense of sustainable traditional farming systems which were perceived as primitive.
    Many farmers are dependent on costly agro-inputs and have easy access to dangerous chemicals, leading to increasing numbers of casualties in rural communities. A recent survey carried out by field workers in Chinamhora district found that pesticides were being misused. Low literacy levels and lack of information led to farmers using inappropriate and dangerous chemicals.

Methodology
A survey of 30 farmers in Chinamhora was conducted among people who wanted to stop using chemicals. The sample consisted of poor smallholder farmers with an average of 3.2 acres of arable land and with a mean number, in each household, of five persons dependent on the land.
    Many crops are grown in the area including maize, sorghum, rapoko, tomatoes, beans, cowpeas, rape, cabbage, groundnuts, chilli, cucumbers, pumpkin, baby marrow, and sweet potatoes with a few citrus trees, papaya, mangoes, guava and peaches. Numerous pests attack these crops including maize stalk borer, aphids, red spider mites, Heliothis bollworms and plant bugs and beetles. To control these pests the farmers use a range of synthetic pesticides. The survey discovered that all households use dimethoate (Rogor E) [an organophosphate insecticide with a WHO classification of 'moderately hazardous'] in the fields, garden and home.
    Rogor E is manufactured locally by the major chemical companies and is easily purchased from most farm supply outlets. The container displays a red label classing it as one of the most hazardous chemicals on sale. Despite this buyers are advised to use it for a variety of pests including aphids, red spider mite and general pests of ornamentals, vegetables and deciduous fruit trees. The precautions listed state that the user must avoid all contact with the contents. Protective gloves, masks and overalls must be worn and the user must not eat, drink or smoke while using it. It is harmful to wildlife, fish and domestic animals and is lethal to bees. The label warns that Rogor should be kept out of reach of children and be stored under lock and key.

Application
Despite the dangers of Rogor E the farmers interviewed did not use any protective clothing save an occasional piece of cloth to cover the mouth or nose when applying the pesticide. Various application techniques were described (see Table 1) and in all cases they involved direct contact with pesticides through handling, breathing and sometimes orally.

All able bodied family members were reported to be applying the pesticide. Although it is illegal for pregnant women and children to apply the chemicals to crops, they constitute the majority of persons applying the pesticides (see Table 2).

Storage
The survey revealed most pesticides are stored insecurely. Children had access in 51% of all cases; 43.3% of the households studied store their pesticides in the garden (at times in holes underground); 30% store them in the bedroom; 16.7% in the kitchen; 13.3% in the storeroom; and 16.7% in the granary.

Poisoning cases
The study found that there were 12 deaths involving accidental and intentional (suicide) drinking, inhaling and dermal contact with the pesticides. All the farmers interviewed had at one time or another experienced pesticide poisoning without receiving professional medical treatment. The symptoms experienced after spraying pesticides included headaches, sneezing, nausea, vomiting, skin irritations and breathing problems.
    These poisoning cases were all due to lack of protective clothing, inability to read the labels and ignorance of safety precautions, the use of pesticides and handling and mixing formulations with water. Often when farmers borrowed pesticides from neighbours or bought chemicals from institutions like the National Vector Control Programme at the Ministry of Health they were not familiar with the chemicals and did not know which pests the chemical should be used to control.

One farmer is reported to have died after vomiting profusely. He had been drinking beer while spraying his crops. Two farmers are said to have died after mixing pesticides with water and stirring the mixture using their bare hands. That these deaths were due to poisoning was confirmed by autopsy reports.
    One farmer experienced severe burns to the skin when his knapsack burst drenching his back in chemicals. Another developed an asthma-like condition after repeatedly winnowing grain maize treated with a grain protectant (Cooper-Shumba). She had not suffered from this condition before she was married as her parents village never used pesticides. Another farmer now suffers from asthma which she attributes directly to the long-term use of pesticides.

Finding alternatives
Rural communities urgently need to develop safe, sustainable alternatives to agro-chemicals. The long-term effectiveness of the pesticides is dwindling and their expense, coupled with the damage they inflict on the health of the community and the environment, is sufficient justification for seeking a new method of pest management. In many situations it is simply a case of farmers recognising the value of and returning to their traditional farming methods. This can be reinforced by equipping rural people with the tools to carry out their own on-farm research.
    The Zimbabwe Institute of Permaculture Research unit supports farmers turning to sustainable agriculture. At the Ecolab, farmers, trainers and extension workers have access to a laboratory and training centre. An environment has been developed where commercial and subsistence farmers can share bench space with local and international scientists.
    Through a farmer field training programme based on the FAO system developed in Asia the research unit is able to take research methods out of the laboratory and into the field. Farmers become familiar with scouting systems and strategies for natural pest management through intercropping, crop rotation, the use of predatory species, repellent plants as well as traps and natural sprays.

This article was written by staff at the Zimbabwe Institute of Permaculture Research.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 37, September 1997, page 3]