%D 2005 %0 ARTICLE %T [ Use of agricultural insecticides in Benin ] %J %V 98 ( 5 ) %P 400-5 %A Akogbeto MC %A Djouaka R %A Noukpo H %M pub16425724 %X The use of insecticides in households and in agriculture has been incriminated in the emergence of insecticide resistance in insect vectors . For farming staff , the emergence of vector resistance is due to indoors spray of insecticides using aerosols and other low quality products in rural and urban settings against mosquitoes . On the other hand , public health specialists believe that the phenomenon of resistance could be due to massive use of insecticides in agriculture for field pests control . In Turkey , the implication of agricultural use of pesticides in the selection of vector resistance is clearly established . This study was framed to identify potential practices favouring the emergence of insecticide resistance in the Republic of Benin . Interviews and focus group discussions were organized with cotton , rice and vegetables farmers . The final aim of these surveys was to point out practices likely to favour the emergence of resistance . The research is conducted in 3 cotton fields , 2 rice fields and 2 vegetable plantations . After filling and signing concerned forms , farmers are subjected to quantitative and qualitative questionnaires to generate data on : insecticides being used , the various doses applied for pests eradication , the frequency of treatments , the cost of treatments ( cost/hectare/year ) the origin of insecticides , the place of purchase , safety precautions and related health hazards . The results of this study have shown that the use of insecticides in agriculture is a clear fact . During treatments , insecticide residues get in contact with mosquito breeding sites where they diffuse into water and exercise a selection pressure on larvae . This partially explains the high levels of resistance recorded in with strains of Anopheles gambiae collected in agricultural settings under insecticides pressure . Pyrethroids and more specifically deltamethrin and cyfluthrin are the insecticides mainly used in studied localities . Bedrooms of farmers are used as storage place for half-used and un-used insecticides containers . For a proper management of insecticides , cotton and vegetable plantations farmers receive assistance from the ministry of rural development . Because of the importance of cotton production in the Republic of Benin , trainings on management of insecticides in agricultural settings are frequently organised by the ministry of rural development and are opened to farmers and their family members ( husbands , wives , children and relatives . . . ) . In the long run , the whole family learns and becomes very versant with the use of insecticides , spraying frequencies , spraying devices and spraying techniques .