In other words, pesticides are an economical, effective and labour saving pest management method that are widely applied in most fields of agricultural production.However, an excess use and misuse of pesticides in agricultural production often lead to severe impacts on human health and the environment . Farmers, the direct users, are easily exposed to pesticides. Exposure to pesticides is generally through contact with the skin, ingestion,or inhalation .Pesticide risks are considered as the potential for a pesticide to cause harm as determined by environmental conditions and preventive actions . Pesticide risks to farmers are the risks that often occur during the time they are spraying pesticides and working on the fields .defines pesticide risk as the result of a toxic hazard and exposure to that hazard.
Therefore, pesticide risk reduction will be achieved by reducing toxichazard and/or reducing exposure.Reduction of toxic hazard is attained by choosing less hazardous products, and reduction of exposure is obtained by using less pesticides, rolling bench better spraying methods, and more complete protective equipment.Gia Lam district, Hanoi city is a delta district with fertile soil, favourable natural conditions with a humid monsoon climate suitable for intensive cultivation of wet rice, vegetables, fruit trees and short-term cash crops; in which, the vegetable production area accounts for about 28.57% of the total agricultural land area of the district . Vegetable production in the district not only meets the needs of the people in the area but also is an important supply for the needs of the people of Hanoi city.The use of pesticide products to increase efficiency in vegetable production in Gia Lam district is, therefore, an inevitable need, however, the risks of pesticides in recent years for vegetable farmers have been almost negligible here. Hence,this study focused on investigating the current farmers’ reduction practice of pesticide risks in vegetable production in Gia Lam district, Hanoi city, thereby proposing more solutions to further enhance pesticide risk reduction in the near future.
The study was carried out in Gia Lam district, Hanoi city, Vietnam. The district is located on the East of the city in the Red River Delta, one of the two important delt as which produce the majority of agricultural products of the country. GiaLam district had a total of 5503.22 ha of agricultural land, accounting for 47.15%of the natural area of the whole district; of which land for annual crops was4294.1 ha , whilst the land for perennial crops made up only 12.06%, equivalent to 663.7 hectares and aquaculturel and was only 301 ha. These figures suggest that agriculture plays an important role in the production of the district and the farmers’ income is mainly from annual crop production.Among 20 communes and 2 towns of Gia Lam district, Van Duc and Dang Xa communes were chosen for this study because they were the two communes with the largest areas of vegetable production in the district,with 221 ha and 130 ha over a total of 740 ha of the district vegetable growing area in the 2020 winter crop. These locations were also representative for areas with highly intensified farming where pesticides application were considerably significant and safe production were dominant. Farmers in Van Duc and Dang Xa communes were growing different vegetables, such as cabbages, Chinese cabbage, broccoli, bitter gourd, cove beans, bokchoy, and mustard greens, etc. Among which, many were granted the 3 or 4 star OCOP certificates of Hanoi city. For the purpose of this study, secondary data were collected from books, newspapers,magazines, scientific works, theses, scientific articles related to risks and solutions to reduce pesticide risks around the worlds as well as in Vietnam; and periodic reports and annual summary reports of relevant governmental agencies,especially Gia Lam District People’s Committee, Plantation and Plant Protection Station, Economic Departments, and Statistics Department.
Primary data used in the study was collected through direct surveys of 60 vegetable farmers in Van Duc and Dang Xa communes, Gia Lam district using structured questionnaires and direct interviews with state managers related to plant protection in the district using semi-structured questionnaires. The surveys were conducted from March to May 2021. Regarding the gender of the household heads, most of the household heads of the interviewed farming households were male. Out of a total of 60 interviewed households, 37 heads of households were male , 23 heads of households were female . In Van Duc commune, the households with a male head of household accounted for 66.67%, while the ones with a female head of household accounted for only 33.33%.