International Journal of
MediPharm Research

Presentinvestigation was undertaken to study the pattern of pesticide usage, management, their health effects on farmers and the perceptionof farmers’ regarding the same. A survey was conducted among 100 farmers in cauliflower and tomato cultivating areas of district Faridabad, Haryana, India from December 2012 to February 2013. Data was collected by means of structured questionnaire, formal and informal interviews, group discussions etc. Chi-square test was used to establish the relation between education level of farmers and safety measures adopted by them for pesticide usage and the age of farmers and health problems due to pesticide exposure. Cypermethrin(62%) and profenofos (58%) were found as the most popular insecticides whilecaptan (74%) andcarbendazim (53%) were the most widely used fungicides by the farmers in this area. However,biological pesticides like azadirachtin (34%) and Bacillus thuringiensis (16%) were also observed to have gained considerable acceptance among the vegetable cultivators though they were reported less efficient in comparison to chemical pesticides. Manualapplication was reported as the method of choice for pesticide application by 70% farmers and 56% of the farmers confirmed that no requisite safety measures and precautions were adopted while applying the pesticides. Choice of pesticide was primarily based on efficiency for pest/pathogen (s) control. Pesticide spray even during harvesting was found in 16% of the cases. Education was observed to influence the approach of the farmers towards adopting requisite protective measures however no association was found between the age of the farmers and the health effects of pesticide. Keywords:Pesticide application, Insecticides, Fungicides, Farmers’ perception.