Risk level mapping of organophosphate pesticides application in agricultural area of Cangkringan Subdistrict, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Farmers in Indonesia widely use organophosphate pesticides (OPPs) to increase crop production, despite their risk to human health and the environment. Objective of this study is to estimate the loading rate and risk level of OPPs based on OPPs characteristics, farmers' knowledge, and the behavior of OPPs application in agriculture area in Yogyakarta Special Region in Indonesia. Data collected through interview and questionnaire distribution revealed three types of OPPs used in study area; profenofos, chlorpyrifos and diazinon. Data on application dose and crop area were used to estimate loading rate. Risk scores can be calculated by multiplying loading rate with toxicity data of each type of OPPs used. Box-Cox transformation was then used to normalized rightly skewed risk score data to get 4 (four) levels of risk classification range; low, medium, high and very high. It was found that there were areas classified as very high risk in wet season, while it is not the case in dry season. However, in total loading per year, areas with high and very high risk level were found for more than >50% in study area.