Limited knowledge among dealers blamed for poor agrochemical use

Although agrochemicals such as herbicides for weed control and pesticides for pest control reduce losses on the farm, failure to apply them in the right amounts could be dangerous to the farmer, the environment, and even the market.

According to Sasakawa Africa Association deputy country director Joseph Bemba, most agrochemicals are misused due to limited knowledge.

“There has been limited training for agro-dealers, because they, too, are not aware, they tend to mislead farmers. We plan to train both farmers and agrochemical dealers, and stockists on the safe use of agrochemicals,” Bemba said.

Apart from training on safe agrochemical use, he said the farming communities will also be exposed to alternatives to agrochemicals, now that effects of climate change are being felt among the farmers.
“There are effects of agrochemicals, on the soil, harvested foods but also for markets. We have had reports of agricultural produce rejected by foreign markets due to the presence of chemical residues so shall also show farmers alternatives to chemical use,” Bemba added.

The observation was made on the sidelines of the annual stakeholders meeting on climate Smart Mitigation for Income, Food, and Nutrition Security at Fairway Hotel in Kampala on Tuesday.

According to a study by Swiss contact, interceptions of Uganda’s agricultural produce increased to more than 100 in 2022 due to the presence of chemical residues and also live insects such as moths.

In the same meeting, Stephen Tibeijula Byantwale, the director crop resources in the agriculture ministry, admitted that there is a challenge with agrochemical use, adding that these are greatly affecting trade.

But added that these are being addressed through the agriculture ministry’s value chain development strategy. The strategy seeks to increase farmer incomes through improvements in production and productivity, infrastructure development, market development, and trade facilitation among others.

“As we work together, we need a lot of effort to ensure that when all these investments are put in place, the final product should access both national and export markets for the benefit of the 39% smallholder farmers into subsistence agriculture,” Byatwale said.

He added the above efforts will be supplemented with advice to farmers from extension workers both in government and the private sector.

“When we talk about agronomy, proper chemical application, post-harvest handling, the message should come from extension so you can understand the minimum chemical residues, grain standards for regional and export markets, electronic certification for exported products for traceability so all these have been provided for in the strategy,” he added.