Perception on handling practices and training needs of agricultural input dealers: An exploratory study in west Medinipur, West Bengal

Inadequate knowledge and unsafe handling practices of pesticides may pose risks to human, animals as well as environment from their stage of manufacture to safe disposal. The present study was designed to know the level of awareness and handling behaviour of pesticides as well as perception on training needs of Agricultural Input Dealers in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India. A total of forty inputs dealers across all blocks of the said district were covered and a checklist of handling practices of pesticides as standardized by FAO was administered. A set of topics under the purview of details of agricultural inputs with special reference to handling practices of pesticides were placed before them to know their perception on training needs on those topics. Weighted average scores of awareness and handling behaviour of pesticides revealed that inputs dealers were aware about Safety & first-aid equipment (2.3), Separation from food/medicine (2.68), Location of Godowns for storage (2.48), General advice for transportation (2.43). However, they were least known about the aspects like Cleaning up spills (1.83), Security measures during storage (2.2), Inspection in godowns (2.3), Emergency response during transportation (2.23) etc. Topics like Fertilizer dose (2.9), Certified seeds (2.9), Preparation of solution for spraying (2.9), Operation of agril. machinery and implements (2.65), Diseases treatment of animals (2.9), Uses of ICT (2.93) were perceived to be the topics for having further trainings by the inputs dealers. Existing syllabus of DAESI course may be revised in consonance with the training needs felt by the inputs dealers.