AGRICULTURAL TRADITIONAL PRACTICES AND RISKS OF USING INSECTICIDES DURING SEED STORAGE IN MOROCCO

The insecticide use by farmers raises the issue of the risks that these products pose to man and his environment, to clarify the status of these chemicals' use and to highlight the traditional agricultural practices of crop conservation. We conducted surveys in 2 Moroccan regions, Casablanca-Settet and Fez-Méknes, among the rural population. The investigation covered 800 people, 79% of them were men. The most representative age group was 40-60 years old (54%), farmers were the group most represented in the sample surveyed (78%) in which the illiteracy rate was higher (43%). Our results show that the choice of storage location and method plays an important role in seed conservation, 24% of the population uses underground tanks (matmouras) as a traditional practice for efficient storage without insecticides, for other methods, insecticides are mandatory to control phytophagous insects which present 73% of all pests. As for pesticide use, only (7%) of the respondents received simple knowledge about insecticides, so that most farmers (88%) buy these products from uncontrolled (weekly souk) or unauthorized sales points and that (99%) of farmers do not respect the prescribed dose during application, the number of repetitions and the time between two successive repetitions. Most handlers (77%) do not take sanitary precautions during use and packaging is released directly into the surrounding environment in most cases (68%).