Factors associated with health status of pesticide use among sugarcane farmers in Tha Maka District, Kanchanaburi Province

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study personal factors, work factors, and pesticide use behavior with the health status of sugarcane farmers in Tha Maka District, Kanchanaburi Province. The samples were 174 farmers. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed by Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient, Point-biserial correlation coefficient, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient at significance level of 0.05. The results revealed that most of the samples were male (74.7%), aged 41-50 years (28.7%), 16-25 years of experience in sugarcane farming (30.5%), >31 years of experience in using pesticides (31.1%), spray frequency of <2 times per month (41.9%), and each spray time of 2-3 hours (55.2%). Behavior before, during, and after spraying pesticides was at a very good level. Most farmers had normal health status (80.5%). The most common symptoms were muscle cramps (44.3%), insomnia (34.5%), and memory loss (30.5%). Moreover, the analysis of factors associated with health status of sugarcane farmers found that age had a very low positive correlation (r = 0.171), height had a low negative correlation (r = -0.221), education level had a low negative correlation (r = -0.269), underlying disease had a low positive correlation (r = 0.172), behavior before pesticide use had a low negative correlation (r = -0.384), behavior during pesticide use had a very low negative correlation (r = -0.202), and behavior after pesticide use had a low negative correlation (r = -0.324).