Pratiques phytosanitaires des producteurs de tomates du Burkina Faso et risques pour la santé et l'environnement

To assess the phytosanitary practices of tomato growers in Burkina Faso, surveys were carried out in 2015 and 2016 among 316 producers in the West and North zones of the country. Ninety percent of pesticides used by producers are purchased in local markets without guarantee of conformity or quality. Lambda-cyhalothrin of the pyrethroids family was the most used active substance. The use for tomato crop of cotton pesticides increased strongly between 2015 and 2016 (+71%). The doses used by producers are higher than the recommended ones. More than 70% of the market gardeners do not observe any measure of adequate protection from the preparation of the mixture until the end of the treatments. The respect of preharvest interval depends mostly of the crop health status and does not follow the recommendations. Empty containers of pesticides are left in fields by 53% of the farmers. These results show that the phytosanitary practices of tomato producers are unsuitable and potentially harmful to the health of farmers and consumers and to the environment