QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF AGRICULTURAL SPRAYING IN THE ERECHIM REGION, BRAZIL

Abstract

One of the ways in monitoring and helping producers to decrease costs and lessen environmental and human contamination is the identification of conditions of spraying machines and their use. Badly regulated agricultural sprayers, featuring inadequate or worn nipples and the employment of inadequate doses of fertilizers are some of the factors that most contribute towards inefficiency and negative impacts on the environment. Current research evaluates the conservation conditions of hydraulic sprayers, the use and management of individual protection equipments (IPEs), identifies storage and transport of agricultural fertilizers and measures the schooling level of farm workers. Study area comprises the micro-region of Erechim in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Thirty-eight agricultural sprayers were evaluated with regard to conservation and usage. Results showed that, although all machines were in use for less than 10 years, the factors triggering concern were: only 26.34% of farmers use IPEs; 84.21% of the workers using sprayers never received any training on the application of fertilizers; 60.53% of farmers transport fertilizers and people in the same cabin; 94.74% store fertilizers less than 30 m from their home; in 28.35% of the cases, the management of fertilizer is performed by elderly people. Sprayers showed good conservation conditions of pump filters, reservoir and functioning. Only about 55% of sprayers revealed good conservation conditions with regard to TDP protection, triple washing and clean water reservoir.