Abstract:
Pesticides are any substance used to control certain forms of pests from plant or animal life. Ethiopia has been using chemical pesticides to control pests since the 1960s. Pesticide risk exposure at work can happen directly or indirectly due to pesticides overuse and misuse. At this study area the research on pesticide utilization and risk exposure was still limited. So, the objective of this study was to investigate pesticides utilization and occupational risk exposure among small scale farmers in Sululta district. About 172 households in three kebeles: Bachoo, Ada'aa-Gimbichuu, and Gullallee-Gabriel of the Sululta District were participated in community-based questionnaires. Structured questionnaires with random sample procedures were used to gather data. SPSS version 26 software was used to examine the data after encoded using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The data analysis tools used included charts, percentages, and frequency. The result of this study showed that farmers used pesticides at a rate of 94.76% Pesticides commonly used include 2, 4-D, glyphosate, malathion, and diazinon by frequency. Furthermore, farmers' exposure to pesticides is determined to be 73.8% which is related to risk factors such as lack of training, not utilizing PPE, and not reading labelled instructions and unknowing the dose of pesticides, not following personal hygiene, and spraying against the wind were determined to be among the few factors for the danger of pesticide exposure. In general, the study indicated that the widespread use and a substantial risk of pesticide exposure due to improper use of banned pesticides and other factors. Farmers had various symptoms which are probably related to pesticide exposure. Pesticide use was found to be a risk factor for occupational exposure. Therefore, the community should reduce the use of inorganic pesticide by replacing with organic farming, whose persist the use of pesticides they should use PPE. In order to increase awareness of the community both government and non-government should provide adequate training
