Contamination status of organochlorine pesticides in Ghana

Ghana, with a geographical location of 5°36' N, 0°10' E, is a developing country in West Africa. It is bordered by Cote d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south (Figure 17.1). It has an area of about 238,500 km2 and a population of about 23 million. Lake Volta, the world’s largest artificial lake, extends through large portions of eastern Ghana. The climate is tropical equatorial with the southern part being hot and humid while the northern part is hot and dry. In the south, there are two rainy seasons (April-June and September-October) and two dry seasons (November-March and July-August) with humidity at about 80%. In the north, the rainy season runs from April to October. The annual rainfall ranges from 1015 to 2300 mm with an average annual temperature of 30°C. Agriculture is the most important economic sector in Ghana, employing about 60% of the national workforce [1]. The majority of this workforce lives in rural areas, where they engage in small-scale farming. Due to diseases and pest attacks in the field, a large portion of agricultural produce is usually lost. The use of pesticides has therefore become necessary to control crop pests and diseases in order to increase crop production to boost the economy. Consequently, many of the farmers in Ghana (about 87%) use chemical pesticides [2,3]. However, most of the farmers lack training in both the choice of chemical pesticides and application techniques and this has resulted in their overuse, misuse, and abuse [3]. Overuse, misuse and abuse of pesticides leads to contamination of the environment as well as agricultural produce with potential adverse health effects on consumers. Inadequate protection of farmers also exposes them to pesticide hazards.