Pre-Harvest Interval Practice after Pesticide Application: A Survey on Brinjal Farmers in Bogura, Bangladesh

A study was conducted to determine the extent of pre-harvest interval practice (from here and later in PHI) after pesticide application by the brinjal farmers of Shajahanpur upazila in Bogura, Bangladesh. Data were collected from 210 brinjal farmers during October 2021 to April 2022 through personal interview and focus group discussions (FGDs). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that majority of the brinjal growers of the study area practiced PHI at the level of highly toxic (62%) in October, highly toxic in November (51.3), moderately toxic (83.5%) in December, moderately toxic (85.4%) in January, moderately toxic in February (74.5%), slightly toxic (51%) in March, and slightly toxic (62.9%) in April. Overall, the practice scenario of PHI by large portion of the brinjal farmers (97%) fell in unsafe categories whereas only 3% of them practiced PHI at a safe level. Survey responses indicated that extensive inaccurate pesticide usage, particularly inadequate PHI, endangers human health and the environment. It is suggested that Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), other GOs, and NGOs should take necessary joint efforts to instruct brinjal farmers on pesticide residue management by putting approved PHI level into practice and observing prudent pesticide use with reference to safe brinjal production.