Pattern of pesticide usage among tomato farmers for sustainable production in the Bono East Region, Ghana

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of Pru West District showing the study locations (Zabrama, Abease, Bupe, and Dama Nkwanta) in the Bono East Region of Ghana.

Table 1. Description of variables used for the analysis.

Variable	Description	Type	Measurement	Hypothesis	Supporting reference
Dependent variable
Pesticide usage	Usage of pesticides by farmers in their tomato farms	Binary	1 = Yes 0 = No
Independent variables
Age	Years	Continuous	Number	+	Alavalapati et al., 1995
Experience	Number of years in farming	Continuous	Years	−	Idrisa et al., 2012; Yasin et al., 2003
Education	Highest level of education	Continuous	Number	−	Denkyirah et al., 2016
Household size	Number of members per household	Continuous	Number	−	Danso-Abbeam et al., 2014
Gender	Gender of the farmer	Binary	1 = Male 0 = Female	+	Blanco-Muñoz & Lacasaña, 2011
Health problems	Problems associated with the application of insecticides	Binary	1 = Yes 0 = No	−	Zahm & Ward, 1998
Adhere to instructions for pesticides	Farmers’ adherence to instructions on insecticide usage	Binary	1 = Yes 0 = No	+/−	Abatania et al., 2010
Extension contacts	Farmers having access to extension service	Binary	1 = Yes 0 = No	−	Anang & Amikuzuno, 2015
Combine pesticides	If, a farmer combines other insecticides	Binary	1 = Yes 0 = No	+	Vidal et al., 2003
Acres of land cultivated	Size of the farm for the cultivation of tomatoes	Continuous	Number (acres)	+	Danso-Abbeam & Baiyegunhi, 2017

Table 2. Socio-demographic characteristics of farmers (n = 120).

Variable	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Gender
Female	33	27.5
Male	87	72.5
Age (years)
20–30	18	15.0
31–40	46	38.3
41–50	48	40.0
51–60	6	5.0
61 and above	2	1.7
Level of education
None	77	64.2
Primary	26	21.7
Senior High School	17	14.2
Residence status
Indigene	78	65.0
Settler	42	35.0
Marital status
Single	16	13.3
Married	99	82.5
Divorced	5	4.2
Head of the household
Yes	86	71.7
No	34	28.3

Figure 2. Varieties of tomatoes cultivated by tomato farmers in the Pru West District of Ghana.

Table 3. Farmers’ farm characteristics.

Variables	Percentages (%)
Why do you prefer to cultivate tomatoes?
Highly profitable	36.0
Source of income	64.0
Area cultivated for tomatoes
<1 acre	14.2
1–2 acre	47.5
3–4 acres	37.5
5–6 acres	0.8

Table 4. Farmers adherence to pesticide usage instructions during pesticide application.

Variable	Percentage (%)
Decision to apply pesticides
Appearance of pests and diseases	70.8
Prevent crop damage from pests and diseases	29.2
Time of pesticide application
Morning	92.5
Late noon	7.5
Adherence to pesticide usage instruction
Yes	74.2
No	25.8

Figure 3. Farmers’ (a) source of information on the application and usage of agrochemicals and (b) source of agrochemicals (the results represent multiple choice of the source of agrochemicals).

Figure 4. Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) among tomato farmers’.

Table 5. Farmer’s knowledge of pesticide usage.

Variables	Percentage (%)
Reason for pesticide usage
Advisable	100
Fast knockdown effect	100
Cheaper	12.5
Environmentally Safe	88.3
Knowledge of active ingredient	0.8
Yes
Mixing of pesticide during application
Yes	67.5

Figure 5. Farmers’ knowledge of the misuse/inappropriate usage of pesticides in the control of pests on their farms. Red colour represents affirmation (yes), and blue colour represents no.

Table 6. Factors influencing the usage of pesticides in tomato farms.

Variable	Coefficient	Std. error	p-Value	Marginal effect
Age	−0.024	0.028	0.380	−0.004
Experience	0.450	0.282	0.110	0.066
Educational level	−1.075	0.513	0.036*	−0.158
Household size	−2.268	0.508	0.0001***	−0.334
Sex	−0.115	0.612	0.851	−0.017
Health problems	−1.740	0.526	0.001***	−0.256
Adherence to instruction	0.074	0.446	0.869	0.011
Extension contacts	−0.308	0.092	0.001***	−0.046
Combination of pesticides	1.268	0.469	0.007***	0.187
Area cultivated	0.670	0.324	0.039*	0.099
Constant	5.949	2.157	0.006***
Prob > chi^2				0.001
Wald chi^2				77.73
Log-likelihood				−31.717
Pseudo R^2				0.551

*p-Value <0.05;  ***p-value <0.001.

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Data availability statement

Data will be made available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.