Knowledge and handling of pesticide by the retailers in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh

Application of pesticides is an accessible practice against different insects and pest of a wide ranges of crops in Bangladesh Pesticide retailers are involved to recommend and sale of pesticide to the farmers in Bangladesh. A comprehensive survey was conducted to retailers and farmers in six Upazilas of two districts of north-eastern part of Bangladesh using structured questionnaire. To collect data, 54 retailers and 150 farmers were interviewed using simple random sampling method focusing on the information related to the knowledge and experience on pesticide and pest management with farmer's attitudes towards pesticide retailers. Retailing business is being conducted by only male (100%) and 85.2% of retailers was involved in personal business. Regardless of their educational status, the retailers engage in agrochemical industries where 94.5% retailers got the registration from UAO. It was observed that 31.5% of retailers have higher secondary education followed by secondary (25.9%) and primary (18.5%). Surprisingly, only 1.9% of retailers completed a diploma course on pesticide where maximum (68.5%) received a short training that organized by Agriculture Office and different pesticide companies. Moreover, 20.4% of retailers did not participate in any kind of training while 42.6% attended short training. The facilities like standard safety measures, first aid kit, and firefighting equipment are not available in most of the retail shops, although 22.2% of shops have poor storage facilities. According to 81.5% retailers, pesticide applications have been increasing over the last 5 years. The overall scenario demonstrates the devastating and inappropriate use of chemical pesticides without proper knowledge and guidelines. It also represents the dominancy of pesticides applications over IPM. Long-term training of the retailers and strong monitoring of their practices is essential.