An Environmental Justice Perspective on Smallholder Pesticide Use in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Author: Elina Andersson,Ellinor Isgren
• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Date: 01 March 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1070496520974407
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

An Environmental

Justice Perspective on

Smallholder Pesticide

Use in Sub-Saharan

Africa

Ellinor Isgren

1

and Elina Andersson

1

Abstract

Pesticide use is increasing in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and many smallhold-

ers purchase, handle, and apply toxic pesticides with inadequate equipment, knowl-

edge, and technical support. Through the frame of environmental justice, this

literature-based study analyzes characteristics, impacts, and drivers of smallholder

pesticide use in sub-Saharan Africa, with particular attention to Uganda as a case. We

find that market liberalization, poor regulation enforcement, and persistent neglect

of agricultural extension place the burden of risk largely on farmers, while perceived

necessity of pesticides and the elusive nature of impacts (especially under conditions

of insufficient monitoring) likely delay social mobilization around pesticides. The

environmental justice frame, which has seen limited application in smallholder con-

texts, importantly helps delineate future directions for research and practice. It is

particularly effective for redirecting focus from highly limited managerial solutions for

“safe use” toward deeper problem drivers and solutions capable of tackling them.

Keywords

agrochemicals, environmental health, environmental justice, integrated pest manage-

ment, pest management, pesticides, slow violence, smallholder farming

1

Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), Lund, Sweden

Corresponding Author:

Ellinor Isgren, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), Lund, Sweden.

Email: Ellinor.isgren@lucsus.lu.se

Journal of Environment & Development

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DOI: 10.1177/1070496520974407

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2021, Vol. 30(1) 68 –97

Isgren and Andersson 69

As part of ongoing pushes for agricultural modernization, pesticide use is

increasing in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including in the small-

holder sector (de Bon et al., 2014; Sheahan et al., 2017). In this article, we

investigate in what ways it is relevant and useful to frame pesticide use in small-

holder agriculture in terms of environmental justice (EJ). Our effort originates in

a study conducted in 2018 in Paya subcounty, eastern Uganda. As we sought to

understand the everyday realities of crop pest challenges in times of climate

change, we observed how pesticide use had become norm rather than excep-

tion—contrary to the common notion that Ugandan smallholders are “organic

by default” (Isgren, 2018a; Preißel & Reckling, 2010). Our survey of 200 farmers

found that 84% used pesticides, commonly accessed through informal channels.

A vast majority handled pesticides without appropriate (or indeed any) protec-

tive gear, with limited knowledge about the chemicals, and no means of safely

washing equipment or disposing of empty containers. Most farmers were, how-

ever, well aware that they are exposing themselves and their surroundings to

risks. Symptoms such as coughs, headaches, running eyes, and itching skin after

handling pesticides are common yet have come to be seen as a necessary evil.

“The tears just roll from the eyes,” one farmer described, “but because these

things are so helpful to us, we just endure.” Even if many know they should use

protective gear, there are often more urgent household needs. Thus, a farmer

jokingly stated, “we, as poor people, we just go like that, without gloves and

these other things. We just go directly to death” (Andersson & Isgren, 2020).

This situation is not unique to Paya or to Uganda. As countries across SSA

have sought to “modernize” agriculture through rapid market liberalization and

privatization, pesticides have in many places become more accessible and afford-

able to smallholder farmers while being actively promoted by private actors and/

or public extension agents. A ubiquitous ideology that equates pesticides with

modernity also fuels the trend (Luna, 2018). Meanwhile, the cutbacks in public

service delivery that began with Structural Adjustment Programs have limited

governments’ capacity to effectively regulate markets and ensure that farmers

receive adequate training and equipment. Thus, millions of smallholders have

adopted pesticides without the support needed to minimize the many associated

risks (de Bon et al., 2014; London & Rother, 2001; Mengistie et al., 2017).

Pushes for a “green revolution” nonetheless continue to encourage or even

impose input-intensive forms of agriculture across the continent (Dawson

et al., 2016; Moseley, 2016), and the agrochemicals industry plays an active

role, having identif‌ied Africa as the last “open frontier” (Mbilinyi, 2012). By

global standards, pesticide use in much of SSA is still low but has been observed

to grow alongside gross domestic product (Snyder et al., 2015), which aligns

with global trends (Hedlund et al., 2020). Furthermore, pesticides “can be a

concern even at low national rates of application if they are used

inappropriately” (Semalulu et al., 2005, p. 162). For example, Uganda off‌icially

has some of the continent’s lowest pesticide application rates (Loha et al., 2018),

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