Risk awareness and management of herbicides in commercial forest plantations in Hoima District, Uganda

Abstract

Although herbicide use has been widely accepted as a most cost-effective method of weed control and management in commercial forest plantations, increasing evidence of negative impacts has called for fresh inquiries into chemical weeding. This study hypothesized that one of the reasons for the increasing cases of pollution, herbicide resistance and other negative effects is poor awareness levels of herbicide use guidelines and herbicide impacts. With a random sample of over 100 commercial forest plantations from randomly selected forest reserves in Hoima District, the study collected awareness data on herbicide use environmental guidelines, herbicide application, storage, and disposal practices, and on herbicide resistance. Four groups of respondents were interviewed including plantation managers, their spray teams, forest contractors and key informants such as district officials. To augment respondent survey questionnaires, focus group discussions and field checklists were also conducted. Results indicate that in larger plantations majority (81%) of the managers and spray teams were aware of herbicide use environmental guidelines while only 52% were aware in smaller plantations. Around 55% of managers and spray teams were not versed with herbicide application, storage, and disposal practices. Also, a significant number (52%) of commercial forest plantations had no clue of herbicide resistance. Managers and spray teams in larger plantations were more aware (69%) of herbicide resistance than their counterparts in smaller plantations (35%). These results can be attributed to lack of environmental guidelines at plantations, a poor manager-team relationship and coordination, lack of trainings and field briefings on herbicide use and handling, and poor multi-stakeholder engagement. This study provides evidence of and confirms the growing concern on poor herbicide use and handling and proposes several recommendations for improvement which include but are not limited to; strengthening of manager-team relationships, adapting of herbicide use guidelines and proper regular training on herbicide use and handling in commercial forest plantations in Uganda.