All pesticide residues should be immediately removed from the skin with soap and water when spills and leaks occur. The use of hand sprinkling makes the farmers more prone to spill the pesticide with resulting skin exposure and inhalation. Improved and affordable equipment are especially needed in tropical regions of Africa where many farmers do not have adequate equipment or must use knapsack sprayer for a longer periods without maintenance or replacement.The method of pesticide application and practices which are used by most Buea farmers exposes them not only to acute effects of pesticide poisoning but to the long term effects of neurological damage and cancer.
Many of the farmers mixed and sprayed pesticides injudiciously using knapsack sprayer cups and teas spoons without accurate measurements leading to an incorrect estimation of pesticide strength and overdosing of the chemicals. Although fungicide usage is said to have little effects on humans, studies have shown that there is high risk of cancer with long term use of mancozed of the carbamate chemical group .The farmer’s health risks were further increased because farmers were not aware of the need to monitor wind directions when spraying and even smoked while spraying. Less than one-fourth of farmers said they used PPE(long sleeved shirts, long pants, boots or closed toed shoes, gloves, masks, and a hat), with the majority (76.4%)of farmers wearing no or partial PPE. These exposures increase the farmer’s risk of pesticide poisoning and possible health effects, ebb flow tray which could explain why 85.3% of farmers reported signs and symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning after spraying.In the Ivory Coast, farmers avoided medical care on the assumption that signs and symptoms of pesticides poisoning are a normal phenomenon and need no medical attention .
This attitude further broadens the risk of long term effects of pesticides poisoning. Although most of the Buea farmers assumed their symptoms were from pesticide use, they thought that the symptoms were expected effects of pesticides use and should be accepted.Some farmers denied that these symptoms could be due to pesticide use, but attributed the symptoms to something other than pesticide exposure.Many Buea farmers said they discarded the pesticides containers on the farm. This was confirmed at the farm visits where many empty pesticide containers could be seen in clusters as one walked in the fields. The disposal of used containers was further complicated, because most of the farms are located along streams which were easier to use to wash the sprayers and to discard the used water. Because this is a mountainous terrain, most of this water runs off and the containers are swept away by rain into the streams and rivers which empty into the Atlantic Ocean. There is a potential pollution threat to the communities along the water way and to non-targeted fauna and flora which has a potential of destabilizing the food chain and the ecosystem at large.
Further studies are needed to evaluate this possibility in order to put in place adequate measures to control such practices.The availability of potable water remains a health concern throughout Cameroon in both urban and rural areas.Although the Buea municipality does have a potable water system, most farmers use it only for drinking water and use the streams for their domestic activities in order to limit water bills. The impact of this practice upon the water sources (streams) is concerning, for both the soil and the water may be affected.After using pesticides, the farmers do observe a decrease in pests and disease. The pesticide venders emphasize this benefit and make pesticides more financially attractive by distributing pesticides in smaller quantities of unlabelled containers. Labeling information is essential to making specific instructions for pesticide use available to all pesticide users. This practice does not encourage farmers to investigate other suitable non-chemical and environmental friendly methods that are equally inexpensive but offer good control of pests.