Impact of Pesticide Awareness module (PAM) in Improving the knowledge of Farmers Community about Pesticide Poisoning: A Pre- and Post- Intervention Study in Wardha District in Maharashtra, India

Background:Pesticide poisoning is a major concern in developing countries like India due to a lack of knowledge about its hazardous effect. It can be minimised by creating awareness among the farmers .This study was conducted to assess the impact of pesticide awareness module in improving the awareness among the farmers' community about pesticide poisoning. Methodology: This was a pre and Post-intervention study in six villages in the Wardha district in Original Research Article Chalakh et al.; JPRI, 33(38B): 160-166, 2021; Article no.JPRI.71195 161 Maharashtra. Forty farmers from six villages were interviewed regarding the knowledge, about pesticide poisoning before and after the sensitization with pesticide awareness module with the predesigned questionnaire. Result: Statistically high significant difference is detected in pre and post-test. It was found that average Pre-test score was 1.84 (out of 10) which was increased in post-test score to 6.52(out of 10). The observed change was 46.79%. Conclusion: The intervention of PAM was highly effective in knowledge gaining of farmer community


INTRODUCTION
Pesticides are chemical compounds mainly used in agriculture for killing the pests, including insects, rodents, fungi, and unwanted plants [1]. Pesticides are an integral part of present-day farming and play a major role in increasing agriculture productivity. The majority of population in India depends on agriculture and hence use of pesticides is extensive to increase agricultural production [2]. As these are environmentally most stable and ability to bioaccumulate it deposit in the human body at a greater risk of disease and poisoning [3]. Farmers are at a high risk of exposure to pesticides through contact with pesticide residue, unsafe handling, and storage and disposal practice. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environmental Program estimated that one to five million cases of pesticide poisoning occur among agricultural workers each year with about 20000 fatalities [4]. The community is not given adequate training and is not aware about pesticide toxicity. They handle toxic chemicals thinking them to be safe which results in increasing the frequency of health risk episodes [5]. In the present days, several instances of chronic toxicity of pesticides have been reported among the exposed farm population due to occupational and accidental poisoning. Recent  Six villages were conveniently selected as they were adopted villages by Mahatma Gandhi Ayurved Medical College, Salod,Wardha under the ambit of Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Science, Sawangi, Wardha. 40 farmers from each village were enrolled after taking consent from them. The pesticide awareness module (PAM) was designed and pre-validated by the school of health professional education, of concerned Institute also the Pre-test and Posttest on the module were prepared and validated. PAM includes the different classification of pesticides, route of exposure, mechanism of action, list of banned pesticides in India, acute and chronic effects of pesticides, first aid, preventive measure and different laws governing pesticides in India. Before implementation of the module pre-test of farmers was conducted. The module was implemented in a community in the Marathi language in the form of chart & postures. After implementation of module post-test of farmers was taken. As most of the farmers were illiterate answers were recorded by volunteers.

Variables Included in Questionnaire
 Socio-demographic variable: Age, Education, Experience  Need of awareness about pesticides poisoning  Awareness regarding pesticides poisoning i. What is the Classification of pesticides ii.
What is the route of administration of pesticides iii.
What are the symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning iv.
What are the preventive measure v.
What are the laws governing pesticides

Statistical Analysis
The data collected were entered in MS Excel and analysis was done using statistical software IBM SPSS version.

OBSERVATION AND RESULT
Comparative statistical analysis of observation of pre and post test scores among studied villagers is depicted in Table 2. The statistically high significant difference is observed in pre and posttest among the samples which indicates that the module has resulted in creating significant changes in the knowledge. In another world these observations represent the high effectiveness of pesticide awareness module.

DISCUSSION
Pesticides consumption in India grew by 13.07% between 2014-15 and 2017-18. Maharashtra consumed the most chemical pesticides in India in the past 5 years at 61,138 tonnes according to non-profit pesticide action network (PAN) [7]. Pesticides poisoning is a major health problem in Maharashtra in the Vidarbh region. The state has reported 272 death in last four years. Yavtamal District has reported a maximum number of 21 deaths and 42 deaths are from the remaining 14 districts in Maharashtra during 2017-18 [8]. Many of the pesticides have been associated with health issues [9,10]. Exposure to pesticides is through contact with skin, ingestion or inhalation. The type of pesticides, the duration and route of exposure and individual health status is the responsible factor for its hazardous effect [11]. The numerous hazardous effects associated with chemical pesticides include among other effects, dermatological, gastrointestinal, neurological, carcinogenic, respiratory, reproductive and endocrine effects [12][13][14][15]. Few of the related studies were reviewed [16][17][18][19][20].
Hence awareness regarding knowledge about pesticides and their hazardous effect is an essential for avoiding the danger of it. This study was conducted to create awareness in farmer's community by structured module. 240 male participants were selected for the study who directly involved in the application of pesticides. All farmers included in the study were male as farming activities especially related to pesticides were performed exclusively by the male. The majority of farmers in the study were in the age group of 31-50 years (77.08%). 27.08% farmers were above 50 years and 8.33% farmers were below 30. Considerable numbers of farmers were illiterate or had not completed elementary education (62.5%) and most of the farmers are having 10-15 years of experience of farming [21][22].
In pre and post-test farmer's levels of knowledge of pesticides were assessed based on classification of pesticides, route of exposure, hazardous effects on health, protective measures and pesticides governing laws. Average pre-test score was 1.84 (out of 10) which was increased in post-test score 6.52 (out of 10). The observed change which is 46.79% is because of effect of PAM. This observation represent that PAM has significant impact in increasing awareness in just one attempt. The change (46.79%) is less than 50% or not nearer to 100% becaus grouping new knowledge after single exposure with new facts in other word it can be said that repetition of awareness programme with PAM is requires for obtaining complete awareness.  ore 6.52 (out of 10). The observed change which is 46.79% is because of effect of PAM. This observation represent that PAM has significant impact in increasing awareness in just one attempt. The change (46.79%) is less than 50% or not nearer to 100% because of limit of grouping new knowledge after single exposure with new facts in other word it can be said that repetition of awareness programme with PAM is requires for obtaining complete awareness.
Separate statistical analysis of Pre and Post score of six villages indicates that significant difference (P=<0.001) has been achieved by PAM which represents high effectiveness as per the need of society (Table 2). Comparative analysis of observation of Pre and Post score in studied six villages was don different level of Pre-test and Post comparison among villages. (Table 3) It is seen that V1 has shown a minimum pre

CONCLUSION
From the result, it can be concluded that most of the farmers are not aware of pesticides poisoning. The pesticides awareness module which was the intervention in this study was effective in increasing the awareness of the people about pesticide poisoning in the villages of Wardha from 1.84 to 6.52%.

DISCLAIMER
The products used for this research are commonly and predominantly use products in our area of research and country. There is absolutely no conflict of interest between the authors and producers of the products because we do not intend to use these products as an avenue for any litigation but for the advancement of knowledge. Also, the research was not funded by the producing company rather it was funded by personal efforts of the authors.

CONSENT
As per international standard or university standard, respondents' written consent has been collected and preserved by the author(s).

ETHICAL APPROVAL
It is not applicable.