Farmers’ Awareness on Excessive Pesticide Use in Vegetable Cultivation: A Case Study from Shariatpur District of Bangladesh

Vegetable cultivation is a vital source of income and nutrition in Bangladesh; however, excessive pesticide use poses significant environmental and public health risks. This study examined the socio-economic characteristics of 105 vegetable farmers in Bhedarganj Upazila, Shariatpur District, their awareness of environmental pollution, and the factors influencing such awareness. The findings revealed that most farmers were middle-aged (45%) with a mean age of 48.9 years, had secondary-level education (50%), medium-sized families (55%), and predominantly small farm holdings (76%) with an average size of 0.738 ha. The mean annual income was 299,857 BDT. Farmers generally exhibited moderate extension media contact (66%), medium training exposure (50%), moderate cosmopoliteness (37%), and relatively high organizational participation (49%). Awareness of environmental pollution due to excessive pesticide use was moderate for 46% of respondents and high for 39%, with a mean awareness score of 18.70 (SD = 3.43). Multiple regression analysis indicated that 63% of the variation in awareness was explained by the selected socio-economic variables (R² = 0.6325; adjusted R² = 0.5934; p < 0.001). Cosmopoliteness, farming experience, organizational participation, and extension media contact were identified as significant positive predictors, whereas age, education, farm size, and income were not statistically significant. The study underscores the importance of information access, social interaction, and experiential learning in enhancing environmental awareness and recommends strengthening extension services, training programs, and farmer organizations to promote sustainable vegetable cultivation.

Keywords: Excessive pesticide; Farmers’ awareness; Vegetable cultivation; Socio-economic characteristics; Extension media contact