Determination of the Environmental Effects of Plant Protection Products in Fighting Pests in Greenhouse Vegetable Production: Batman Province Example

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the environmental awareness levels of agricultural enterprises in the province of Batman and its districts where greenhouse production was carried out in 2020. With this purpose, and based on simple random sampling method, information was obtained from 75 producers in 15 villages, 5 randomly selected villages from three districts (Central, Besiri, Sason), using a 37-question survey method and the results have been evaluated as a percentage (%). With this study, it has been determined that the education level of the greenhouse producers is high, most of them have non-agricultural income and the amount of their income is above the hunger limit. Greenhouse producers take advice from vendors and the District Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry to determine pesticide selection and pesticide dosage. They reported that the producers pay attention to important factors in the selection of pesticides like brand and active substance, they do not use the same pesticide against the same disease and pest continuously, they apply the recommended dose before the disease and pest appears, that the pesticides they use leave residues in the product, they pay attention to the waiting time between spraying and harvest, they reported that they use protective clothing and masks, do not throw empty pesticide boxes on the field or roadside, clean the spraying tool, but they said that they have use the spraying tool without calibration and applied pesticides as a mixture. However, it has been determined that they prefer cultural methods in addition to chemical methods and they are not aware of the concept of biopesticide. Farmers generally prefer chemical warfare methods to overcome plant protection problems, and mistaken pesticide applications bring many negative effects in terms of human and environmental health.