Potential Health Risks of Bio-systems Exposed to Restricted Aluminium Phosphide in Katsina State, Nigeria

The study was carried out to assess the technical competence of handling agricultural pesticides among grain farmers in grain producing states in Nigeria. The study was conducted in Katsina State of Nigeria. Multistage sampling method was employed and four local government areas were selected for the study. The local government areas include Faskari, Funtua, Danja and Bakori. Fifty respondents were chosen at random from two villages in each local government area to make a total of 200 respondents in all. Information on the most commonly used maize preservative pesticides were obtained through structured questionnaires. The mean age of respondents ranged between 43-52%, majority of the respondents had little or no formal education. The most commonly used maize storage pesticide was aluminium phosphide (35-44%). Misuse of aluminium phosphide, a restricted pesticide in the study areas seems to be inevitable due to high level of illiteracy among the farmers.