Project report
Ghana - Enhancing Natural Forest and Agroforest Landscapes Project : Additional Financing - Environmental Assessment : Updated Pest Management Plan
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Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This is an updated pest management plan for the Ghana Enhancing Natural Forest and Agroforest Landscapes Project, prepared as part of an environmental assessment for additional financing. The project aims to improve forest and tree management by cocoa farmers, CREMA communities and forest reserve managers to reduce forest loss. The plan lists risks of pesticide use and matching mitigation measures. Children are mentioned only briefly, in the risk that pesticides are applied by women and children and in the advice to avoid spraying near homes and playing grounds. The document is mainly about environmental and pesticide management, not child well-being.
Key points
- The project aims to improve forest and tree management by cocoa farmers, CREMA communities and forest reserve managers.
- Listed risks include lack of protective clothing, reuse of pesticide containers, unsafe storage and handling, and potential pesticide poisoning.
- Application of pesticides by women and children is listed as a negative impact.
- Mitigation includes training farmers and spray operators and preventing reuse of containers.
- Spraying near homes, wells, streams and playing grounds should be avoided or minimised.
Limitations
The abstract treats children only in passing and gives no data on child exposure, harm or outcomes. It does not evaluate any intervention for children.
Abstract
The development objective of Enhancing Natural Forest and Agroforest Landscapes Project is to improve forest and tree management practices by cocoa farmers, CREMA communities and forest reserve managers to reduce forest loss and degradation in selected landscapes in Ghana. Some of the negative impacts include: (i) lack of access to protective clothing and spray equipment in repair; (ii) no proper labeling of pesticide products;; (iii) reuse of pesticide containers; (iv) pre-harvest interval violations; (v) unsafe storage, transport and handling; (vi) application by women and children; (vii) potential for using pesticides more than necessary; (viii) use of higher-toxicity products; (ix) pesticide spraying near homes; (x) potential for pesticide poisoning; and (xi) poor disposal of used pesticide containers. Some of the mitigation measures include: (i) avoid crops (varieties) that create reliance on pesticides; (ii) spray equipment must be regularly checked and serviced by qualified spray equipment mechanic who should undertake routine equipment maintenance on a clearly defined work program; (iii) continue to engage farmers and train them on the safe storage and use of the chemicals; (iv) prevent reuse of pesticide containers; (v) all spray operators should also be trained in the proper handling of pesticides; (vi) the EPA should be involved in the training of women in the application of pesticides to avoid the incidence; (vii) chemical pesticides must only be as a last resort, in the case of unexpected pest invasion by migratory pests such as armyworms and grasshoppers or grain eating birds; (viii) the surroundings of homes should always be avoided when spraying pesticides, except in vector control programs when it is necessary to undertake indoor spraying with pesticides on walls of homes, and under very strict supervision and monitoring by officials from the ministry of health; and (ix) every precaution must be taken to minimize spraying near standing water bodies or streams or pouring pesticides on the ground around homes, near wells and playing grounds. (Ghana)