TITLE:
Assessment of the Pesticides Utilization and the Pesticide Residues Presence in Fresh and Tomato Products for the Tomato Supply Chain in Rwanda
AUTHORS:
Ndisanze Marc Antoine, Kamana Emmanuel, Nirere Claudine, Ilkay Koca
KEYWORDS:
Pesticide Residues, Tomatoes, Health Effect, Social Economic
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.13 No.12,
December
9,
2022
ABSTRACT: Pesticide residues are either natural or synthetic and are found in most
edible products such as fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and other processed
products. Excess of these pesticides’ residues is unsafe for consumption due to regulatory measures.
Thus, it is beneficial to assess the level of residues of pesticides in the
food diet in order to improve the standard of living of the population. This
study intends to assess the pesticide usage and residue levels of selected
pesticides in fresh tomatoes in the supply chain of Rwanda. The results of the
study confirm that there are around 10 brands of pesticides used in Rwanda.
58.97% of the surveyed people around the country are males and 71.79% of farmers apply rockets as the main pesticide. More than 22% of surveyed
farmers affirmed to consume the raw or/and unwashed tomatoes. This study
revealed that the residues of the active ingredients contained in the pesticides are accumulated in unwashed
tomatoes and the quantity of such residues is shown in this study.
Deltamethrin was 0.64 ± 0. 009 mg·kg?1 in tomatoes collected in Rusizi district, cypermethrin 1.1435 ± 0. 0375 mg·kg?1 in tomatoes collected from
Gisagara District, mancozeb residues was 0.620 ± 0.000 mg·kg?1 in tomatoes collected from
Rusizi district. The results of the study also show that pesticide residues are
not found in the washed tomatoes. Therefore, the detection of pesticide
residues in unwashed tomatoes in some samples indicates the malpractice of residues among farmers in
Rwanda. Also, consumers eating the unwashed fresh tomatoes are recommended to
wash the tomatoes before use.