Factors Associated with Safety Behavior in The Prevention of Chemical Use in Agriculturist Ubon Ratchathani Province

Abstract

This research aimed to study the factors related to the safety behavior of chemical use among agriculturists in Ubon Ratchathani Province. The probability sampling technique was employed for sample selection from the representatives of 25 districts. After drawing lots, Muang Sam Sip District was obtained. Then 782 households were purposively where chemical was found the most. Finally, 213 people were selected from the representatives of the households (1 person per household), cultivating and using agrochemicals who voluntarily participated in the project. Data were collected from the questionnaire. The questionnaire’s quality was tested. It was found that the content validity and the content reliability were 0.54 and 0.82, respectively. The correlation between variables was analyzed by chi-square test and spearman’s rank correlation at a statistical significance level of 0.05. The results showed that occupation, type of plants, income, fungicide use, frequency of chemical use and physical symptoms while using or exposing to chemicals were correlated with the safety behavior of chemical use among agriculturists with the chi-sq correlation values of 43.40, 16.45, 15.07, 8.40, 22.32, and 14.88, respectively. The agriculturists’ knowledge and attitudes on chemical use were correlated with the safety behavior of chemical use among agriculturists with the correlation coefficient values of 0.06 and 10.15, respectively. The agriculturists’ knowledge on chemical use was not correlated with the agriculturists’ attitudes towards with the correlation coefficient of 0.023.  

In conclusion, knowledge and attitudes play an important role in changing safety behavior in a better direction. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously develop the agriculturists’ knowledge. It is also essential to formulate strict chemical use practices in order to change the behavior of chemical use in a safer way.