Agricultural Chemical Use in Tomato Farming in Kazova Region of Tokat Province

Abstract

Pesticide uses in Kazova region of Tokat province were assessed in this study. Data were gathered through Simple Random Sampling method with questionnaires made with 72 agricultural enterprises. Resultant data were assessed through arithmetic means and percentiles. A factor analysis was also performed on producer opinions about pesticide use in tomato. Average enterprise size was 20.27 da and tomato is cultivated over 56.98% of these lands. Of the participant producers, 97.22% were not member of any associations or cooperatives. About 91.67% of the participant producers prefer chemical treatments. Producer usually use chemicals based on their previous experiences and recommendations of chemical-fertilizer dealers. Price is the dominant factor while selecting the chemicals to be sued. The dose prescribed by the dealer is generally used. Of the participant producers, 91.67% indicated that they didn‘t know about the time to be passed between the last chemical treatment and the harvest; 44.44% don‘t think that pesticides they use leaved residues over the products and 95.83% indicated that chemical treatments didn‘t create environmental pollution. With the factor analysis, KMO value was calculated as 0.553 and 14 variables thought to be effective on producer opinions about agricultural chemical uses were gathered under 6 factors (toxicity, attention in treatments, human health, conscious production and consumption, environmental harm, hygiene).