Abstract
The study assessed farmers' utilization of approved pesticides in cocoa farms in Ondo State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 240 respondents for the study. Data were collected using an interview schedule and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that most (91.2%) of the respondents were male, married (90.0%) with a mean age of 51.1 years. The major insecticide approved by the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) and utilized by the majority of the cocoa farmers was Actara 25 WG. The major approved fungicide by CRIN and utilized by cocoa farmers were Ridomil Gold, Ultimax Plus, and Red Force. The results further showed that Clear Weed was the most used herbicide among the approved herbicides recommended to the cocoa farmers in the study area. Results further revealed that all (100.0%) cocoa farmers complied with the safety precautions of using pesticides. These precautions include: avoid mixing herbicides with fungicides, avoid spraying against wind direction, and proper handling and storage of pesticides. The major constraints faced by cocoa farmers in using the approved pesticides were lack of government support in terms of grants and inputs ( X¯ = 2.97), lack of access to credit facilities ( X¯ = 2.95), and high cost of approved pesticides ( X¯ = 2.90). The education status of cocoa farmers had a significant association with compliance with safety precautions while using pesticides (χ(2) = 6.087, p ≤ 0.05). The study recommends that cocoa farmers should be assisted with timely provision of approved cocoa pesticides by government, non-governmental agencies and private organizations.