Pesticides Waste Disposal Pattern among Users in Floriculture Gardens in Benin Metropolis, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined Pesticides waste disposal pattern among users in floriculture gardens in Benin Metropolis, Edo State, Nigeria. The study described socioeconomic characteristics of respondents, identified their pesticides disposal pattern, perception on disposal pattern, types of pesticides practices in floriculture gardens in study area, and challenges they faced in pesticides disposal. A multistage sampling techniques were used to select respondents (66) in the study while frequency count, means, and percentages descriptive and Pearson product movement correlation were used in this study. The mean age of respondents was 14.8 years, male respondents were higher (63.6%). Most (94.0%) of them had formal education background, higher (78.8%) number of the respondents disposed their pesticides waste into waste bins and reasonable number (m = 4.64) of they do not perceive that proper pesticide waste disposal to be of great importance. Respondents commonly used Attack” brand of pesticide while lack of adequate information on pesticide waste disposal and lack of training/ expertise were some of the challenges respondents were facing while inferential statistic result showed that empty pesticide waste disposal  (r = -0.613; <p0.001) and pouring/burying pestide waste (r = -0.421; p<0.030) were negatively correlated while flushing drainage/sewages (r = 0.417; <0.05) was positively correlated with respondents’ perception of pesticides waste disposal at 0.01 and 0.05% levels of significance. The study recommends that government should create agencies that would regulate the disposal of pesticide wastes; Extension agents should be mobilized to train floriculturists on the proper ways to dispose pesticide waste and to also sensitize the gardeners on the effects of improper pesticide waste disposal; and none chemical pesticide control method alternatives should be considered to minimize and reduce pesticide wastes.

Keywords: Pesticides, Users, Waste Disposal, Floriculture Gardens, Benin Metropolis.