PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
There is a general drive to reduce pesticide use owing to the potential negative effects of pesticides on the environment and human health. The EU Commission, for example, through its \"Farm to Fork Strategy,\" has proposed to decrease the use of hazardous chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030. In addition, smallholder farmers in low-income countries do not always follow pesticide safety precautions. This necessitates the introduction of low-risk crop protection strategies also suited for these farmers. Agricultural biologicals can substitute for, or at least partially replace hazardous chemical pesticides. While the market for and use of biologicals is growing quickly in industrialized countries, this practice remains limited in sub-Saharan Africa. To understand the reason behind the low adoption of biologicals, this study examined the knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward biologicals among 150 smallholder farmers in the Chole district in Ethiopia. All farmers used chemical pesticides and/or inorganic fertilizers to protect crops, improve yields, and comply with government regulations. The use of biologicals was, however, restricted to one group of biologicals, bio-fertilizers, which approximately 60% of farmers used, and no use of biologicals for plant protection was reported. Even though the understanding of the concept of biologicals was deemed high among respondents, the majority (90%) did not identify biologicals as safer alternatives to conventional agricultural inputs. More than half of the respondents (54%) did not recommend biologicals as safer alternatives to their colleagues. Nevertheless, even if the responding farmers did not perceive biologicals as risk-free, they had a positive attitude towards biologicals when it came to producing healthy food and increasing crop yields and incomes. In comparison to the positive attitude, farmers\' knowledge and practice of biologicals were generally low; thus, efforts are needed to create awareness among farmers.
摘要：
由于农药对环境和人类健康的潜在负面影响，人们普遍致力于减少农药的使用。欧盟委员会,例如,通过其“从农场到分叉”战略，“建议到2030年将危险化学农药的使用减少50％。此外,低收入国家的小农并不总是遵循农药安全预防措施。这就需要引入也适合这些农民的低风险作物保护策略。农业生物制品可以替代，或者至少部分替代有害化学农药。虽然生物制品的市场和使用在工业化国家迅速增长，这种做法在撒哈拉以南非洲仍然有限。为了理解生物制品采用率低的原因，这项研究检查了知识，态度，以及埃塞俄比亚乔尔地区150名小农的生物制品实践。所有农民都使用化学农药和/或无机肥料来保护农作物，提高产量，并遵守政府法规。生物制品的使用是，然而,仅限于一组生物制品，生物肥料,大约60%的农民使用，并且没有使用生物制品进行植物保护的报道。尽管受访者对生物制品概念的理解被认为很高，大多数(90%)没有将生物制品确定为传统农业投入的更安全的替代品.超过一半的受访者（54％）不建议将生物制品作为更安全的替代品。然而，即使做出回应的农民并不认为生物制品是无风险的，在生产健康食品和增加作物产量和收入方面，他们对生物制品持积极态度。与积极态度相比，农民对生物制品的知识和实践普遍较低；因此，需要努力提高农民的意识。
