PESTICIDES USES IN CERTAIN PEANUT GROWING AREAS IN SENEGAL

Aizan Maggie-Angéla Rosalina Gbéhodé 1, 2 and SEMBENE Mbacké 1,2 . 1. Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Science and Technics, C.A. Diop University, Dakar Fann-PO 5005, Senegal. 2. BIOPASS, UMR 022 IRD-CBGP, Dakar Bel-Air PO 1386, Senegal. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History

In order to protect their crops from pests attack, producers resort to pesticides use, yet poor control of this practice may have negative consequences on their own person, on environment and cause emergence of resistance in the target organisms. The objective of this study is to identify the various pesticides used in peanut growing areas and to know their use. It is based on surveys conducted in 4 areas. 84% of producers use these products. They are mainly found in powder or pellets form and carbamates family are mostly used. However, the lack of training and information for producers is a real problem in the different areas. Senegalese farming uses on average 598 tons of solid pesticides and 1.336.560 liters of liquid pesticides per year (Pan, 2006) for a value of nearly 10,500,000,000 CFA francs. Organochlorines are the most used pesticide family (about 3000 liters per year). These pesticides are intended for treatment of crops, stored food, public health and animal health. However, the latter too expensive cause huge environmental and public health problems. This is compounded by the appearance of resistance in the various crop pests due to the abusive and unreasonable use of these products. To deal with these different problems a knowledge of the different chemicals and their use is necessary. Data on pesticides use in peanut industry are almost nonexistent. It is in this context that fits this study aimed to identify different pesticides used in peanut growing areas and know their use.

Methods:-
The study is based on field surveys conducted with producers of peanuts. They are made on the basis of questionnaires submitted to random farmers and distributed as follows: 14 in Saint-Louis area, 20 on the Mbour-Fatick axis, 35 in Nioro and 13 in Sedhiou.
The investigation focuses on practices related to the use of pesticides in peanut producing areas with issues such as the pesticide type used in the different areas, their formulations, their families, their frequency of use, respect or not planned doses, the management of the packaging, the precautions taken after their use.

Treatment moment and Frequency:-
The moment of pesticides application, the number of treatments and the frequency between treatments vary from one producer to another. 78% of the people surveyed treat their crops before pests appear, and the majority (54%) made a single treatment. For the others, the interval varies from 15 days (7%) to 6 months (12%); however, many of them (30% of producers) respect a period of 4 months between their applications.

Graph 4:-Producers distributions according to interval between treatments
Products application and dosage:-Only 8% of producers have equipment for the application of their products. These materials range from the conventional equipment (pump, powder, seeder) to that of fortune (black bags). Others apply their products manually by dusting or filing of the pellets on seeds.
The majority of farmers (about 70%) do not respect the doses recommended for products. They apply them at their convenience according to the quantity of available seed and product. b= bag; p= pellet; sp= spoon Graph 5:-Producers distributions according to pesticide dose Precautionary measures:-Producers are aware of the danger incurred during the application of pesticides yet 54 percent of them use any precaution. Those who take carry gloves, masks, scarves or black bags during application. The products being very toxic almost all (except 6%) wash their hands, take a bath or drink milk after the treatment.

Discussion:-
This study shows that many groundnut producers have used pesticides to protect their crops. The most commonly used are those of carbamate family, they are often used in addition to products from other families or enter into the composition of products made up of mixture with another family. These products are more used as powder and pellet. Indeed some have reported inefficiencies of their older products that might be related to bad practices. Such observations were also made in some African countries al., 2006, Obopile and.
The dose recommended for insecticide treatments are respected. Producers apply them according to their convenience depending on the amount of product available and peanut. This situation could be explained by the high rate of illiteracy also incriminated by Kanda et al. in 2013. 55% of producers cannot read or write. Among the letters much is Arabist and will not be able to read the indications on packages often entered in french. Like Cissé and al.
In peri-urban agriculture in 2003, the frequency of treatments varies from one farmer to another, it is the same for their number. It appears from the information received that some even begin their treatment from the seed. All these practices are favorable to the development of resistance in target populations. Pesticide resistance has been reported in some pests in Senegal (Aizan and al., 2016), Cameroon (Brévault and al., 2003). Pesticides treatments have been implicated as a cause of the appearance of resistance in some mosquito species. Larvae develop in the ponds near the fields and are directly exposed to repeated insecticidal treatments (Akogbéto and al., 2005).
Due to a lack of aid and financial means, very few producers have equipment for the application of products. They are obliged to do it manually or to use plastic bags. This method was also denounced by Cissé and al., in 2003

Conclusion:-
The use of pesticides for crop protection is adopted by the majority of producers. However, this practice must be well mastered to produce the expected results, otherwise it can become a danger for the user and his environment. This study shows that peanut producers did not meet the doses recommended for these treatments and were highly exposed during manipulations. Moreover, they recognize that these products are harmful to health but mostly ignore the real danger they represent.
In the light of such findings, some measures are needed: training and informing users through awareness campaigns in national languages, due to the high rate of illiteracy observed among farmers, the establishment or the updating of a fund to support producers, a monitoring and evaluation of the various practices.