Utilization of Boxes for Pesticide Storage in Sri Lanka

Ravi Pieris, Manjula Weerasinghe, Tharaka Abeywickrama, Gamini Manuweera, Michael Eddleston, Andrew Dawson, Flemming Konradsen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Pesticide self-poisoning is now considered one of the two most common methods of suicide worldwide. Encouraging safe storage of pesticides is one particular approach aimed at reducing pesticide self-poisoning. CropLife Sri Lanka (the local association of pesticide manufacturers), with the aid of the Department of Agriculture, distributed lockable in-house pesticide storage boxes free of charge to a farming community in a rural district of Sri Lanka. Padlocks were not provided with the boxes. These storage boxes were distributed to the farmers without prior education. The authors carried out a cross-sectional follow-up survey to assess the usage of boxes at 7 months after distribution. In an inspection of a sample of 239 box recipients' households, 142 households stored pesticides in the provided box at the time of survey. Among them, only 42 (42/142, 29.65%) households had locked the box; the remaining households (100/142, 70.4%) had not locked the box. A simple hand over of in-house pesticide storage boxes without awareness/education results in poor use of boxes. Additionally, providing in-house storage boxes may encourage farmers to store pesticides in and around houses and, if they are not locked, may lead to unplanned adverse effects.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)180-184
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of agromedicine
Volume22
Issue number2
Early online date27 Jan 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Mar 2017

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Journal Article

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