Tackling Pesticide Exposure in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Story from Uganda. (1st April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Atuhaire, Aggrey
• Is Part Of: Outlooks on pest management. Volume 28:Number 2(2017:Mar./Apr.)
• Page Start: 61
• Page End: 64
• Publication Date: 2017-04-01
• Subjects: Pesticides -- Periodicals; Pesticides -- Application -- Periodicals; 632.905
• DOI: 10.1564/v28_apr_04
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1743-1034

Abstract

Agriculture remains the mainstay of most African countries, dominated by minimally educated small and medium-scale farmers in rural areas who primarily rely on family and hired manual labour. Increased pest incidence, limited knowledge of alternative pest management methods, lack of attention to the economics of pest control, weak legislation, a growing informal pesticide market, and aggressive advertising by the pesticide industry among others account for pesticide application being the principal pest management approach for the majority of farmers in these countries. Uganda's official pesticide import and use statistics are scanty. Nevertheless in the year 2012, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation showed that Uganda's pesticide import value between the years 1990 and 2010 had increased from less than $5 million to $30–35 million. However, the toxicity of these products and the failure to adhere to use and handling instructions continue to pose grave environmental and health risks. The United Nations Environment Program showed that in 2009, the total Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Sub Sahara Africa for basic health services (excluding HIV/AIDS) was closer to $4.8 billion. UNEP's conservative projection of the 2005 estimate to 2009 shows costs of injury due to pesticide poisoning in Sub-Saharan Africa to be $6.3 billion. This shows that the costs of inaction related to current pesticide use alone are greater than the total ODA to general health care in sub-Saharan Africa (UNEP, 2013). In 2005, UNEP estimated the costs of lost work, medical treatment, and hospitalisations due to pesticides poisonings among farm workers on small land holdings in 37 Sub-Saharan African countries to be $4.4 billion. For Uganda, the estimated total costs were $273.95 million, that is, $25.51 million being costs of serious incidents (hospitalisation plus lost work), $75.27 million being costs of moderate incidents (medical treatment plus lost work) and $173.16 million being costs of minor incidents (lost work). More still, in 2010, Uganda's National Environment Management Authority reported that each farmer loses 24.6 days per year due to pesticide poisoning, 9.4 days due to respiratory illnesses and 15.2 days due to skin infections. UNACOH has played a key role in raising awareness, building technical capacity of different pesticide stakeholders, and advocating for better policy design and enforcement in partnership with our development partners, DIALOGOS from Denmark. However, the organisation has intervened in only 2 out of more than 112 districts, hence there is still more work to be done and a number of gaps still remain to be filled which include among others, need for a dedicated policy and mechanism to curb counterfeits and pesticide residues in food, need for clear national guidelines and accessibility to personal protective clothing, need for a proper process for certification of spraying equipment, need for dedicated government efforts to promote IPM, and establishment of a proper national pesticide waste disposal system. Therefore UNACOH continues to seek support from and partnerships with national and international stakeholders to strengthen further IPM promotion and the sound management of pesticides across the whole country.