110 Agricultural Harm to the Environment
were present in the field. The same activities (mixing), when associated with fieldwork
afterwards, led to a slight shift of the distribution towards a higher degree of severity.
‘Mixing’ and ‘spraying’ tasks had an average duration of 3.5 and 3.8 hours respec-
tively. The same operations combined with fieldwork lasted 6.7 hours (mixing and
field work) and 7 hours (spraying and fieldwork). Prolonged exposure led eventually
to the development of more severe illness. Fieldwork alone did not cause any severe or
moderate poisoning. This may be explained by the absence of direct contact with the
concentrated chemical. To determine the contributions of individual factors, severity
class and #S&S, were regressed (Table 5.7) on the five exposure variables, the three
social variables (Gender, Age, Formal education) and three economic variables (Land-
holding, Income, Profession). The highest R^2 was found for the model that incorpo-
rated Education, Landholding, Profession, Exposure Time and Toxicity.
Participant observation of a pesticide spraying session
In order to corroborate the finding on women’s exposure to pesticide, the first
author observed some spray sessions in Darpalli village. Table 5.8 refers to a typical
hour of work during which wife and husband were continuously present in the
field. The pesticide mixture was prepared by the woman, without any sort of pro-
tective equipment. The concentrated product was mixed barehanded and every
7–9 minutes the tank was refilled, for a total of six refillings an hour. The session
lasted three hours. Throughout the session the woman followed the man who was
spraying the mixture. Repeated exposure of the two operators was evident. The
average reporting session of the female respondents for ‘mixing of pesticides’ was
Table 5.7 Multiple regression of the severity class on socioecomonic and exposure
variableVariable B Coefficient Std. Error Beta t Sig.
Severity index
Pesticide toxicity .295 .035 .439 8.495 .000
Exposure time .104 .021 .262 4.897 .000
Formal education –.129 .063 –.128 –2.051 .041
Landholding –1.11 .007 –.091 –1.499 .135
Profession –.162 .120 –.076 –1.356 .176
Adjusted R square = 0.292, F-value (df5, 275) = 24.1, P = 0.001
#S&S
Pesticide toxicity .654 .106 .318 6.152 .000
Exposure time .447 .065 .367 6.884 .000
Profession –1.12 .367 –.171 –3.079 .002
Formal education –.549 .193 –.177 –2.850 .005
Landholding –3.87 .023 –.104 –1.705 .089
Adjusted R square = 0.294, F-value (df5, 275) = 24.3, P = 0.001