Safe Pesticide Use and Farm Records

Who it is for. Beginners with no formal certificate, including farmers, farm workers, spray helpers, school leavers, women's groups and persons with disabilities. National Proficiency I is the first level of Ghana's TVET framework.

Why this module

• Ghana's own studies show a gap between knowing and doing. Among 503 cocoa farmers in Western North and Central regions, 97.5% wore boots but only about 31% wore a mask, about 11% wore gloves and 5% wore goggles. Cost was the main reason for skipping protection.
• In the same study, 75% of farmers left empty pesticide containers on the farm, 59% burned them and 18% reused them after washing.
• In a survey of 1,455 household heads in Kintampo, only 28.9% wore protective devices (summary only).
• Poor storage has killed. Upper East Region recorded 15 deaths linked to pesticide poisoning in 2010, mostly from poor storage.
• Fewer, better sprays also protect your income and your market, because buyers and the law care about what is left on food.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 70% of the time is practical, following CTVET's Oil Palm programme split of about 30% school and 70% workplace. Every unit ends with homework and Check yourself, three quick questions. Keep all your work in your logbook.

Words on prices, names and law

• Prices. No dated cedi price list for protective clothing or spray services was found. Every price marked example is invented to teach the sums. Before you buy or quote, ask three sellers and write down the date.
• Local names. Names of tools and clothing differ from place to place. Local names were not verified, so ask your trainer and the dealers near you, and write the local name beside each item in your logbook.
• Law. Pesticides are controlled under Ghana law. Unit 1 explains which law applies and what could not be confirmed.
• Labels. Foreign guides in the sources (FAO, WHO, Kenya, USA, Canada) are used for general safety ideas only. Where a Ghana rule exists, Ghana's rule counts.

Competency standard

Range. Classroom and a visit to an agro-input dealer. Evidence. Oral questions; type-and-route table; rules card.

What is a pesticide?

A pesticide is anything used to kill, repel or control a pest. The main types:

Fumigation tablets used wrongly killed three people in Accra in 2018. A fumigant is the most dangerous kind to use without training. At this level, do not fumigate. Leave it to a licensed professional.

"Natural" does not always mean harmless. A neem spray is much gentler than many chemicals, but you still wash your hands, keep it away from children and from food, and learn the method from a trainer. In this manual you will find the neem steps only as a sequence, because no safe dilution was found in the sources we could read.

How poison gets into your body

The skin is the way in most often. Pesticide on wet or sweaty skin, on the hands and on the legs where the spray drips can go through the skin without pain (general safety teaching). Children are in danger too: they can be exposed when they buy pesticide, clean sprayers or handle used containers, not only when they spray.

The law in plain words

Two laws matter. Keep this list in your pocket.

Which law is it now? (Act 528 and Act 1124)

The Pesticides Control and Management Act, 1996 (Act 528) is the law the rules above were read from. In January 2025 Ghana passed the Environmental Protection Act, 2025 (Act 1124), which replaces the older EPA Act and becomes the main environmental law, with the EPA becoming the Environmental Protection Authority.

A law firm's note says Act 1124 consolidates earlier laws including Act 528. We could not confirm whether Act 528 still stands on its own, and we do not say it has been repealed. Act 1124 also says it is unlawful to deal with unregistered pesticides, including to use them, and that people who manufacture, formulate, import, export, store, advertise or commercially apply pesticides must be licensed. The safe rule for a trainee is simple: use only products registered by the EPA, follow the label, protect your workers, and if you spray for money, ask the EPA about a licence before you start. The rules above apply either way.

Registered products, and how to check

The EPA reported about 1,070 pesticides registered and 32 fake pesticides banned up to December 2023. We could not get the current list, so we give no names. To check a product:

1. Look on the label for the EPA registration number.
2. Ask the dealer to show it, and ask for a receipt.
3. If you are not sure, ask your district MoFA extension officer or the EPA Western Region office. The EPA's published contacts are 050 6694760 and 050 6699466 and info@epa.gov.gh (read in October 2026; confirm before you call).
4. For cocoa, use only products COCOBOD and CRIG recommend. Some farmers use unapproved products because they are cheaper.

Check yourself

1. Name the three ways a pesticide can get into your body.
2. What must an employer do about protective clothing?
3. What should you look for on a label to see that a product is registered?

Competency standard

Range. Photocopies of real labels, practice labels, a demonstration PPE set. Evidence. Label checklist filled in; PPE dressing check.

The label checklist

Read the whole label, every time, before you buy, before you mix, and before you spray. Ask somebody to read it to you if you cannot read it well. Do not guess. The parts to find:

If the label is missing, torn, unreadable or in a language nobody can read, do not use the product. Do not take a loose, unlabelled product from a bottle or a sachet from a stranger. Decanting into another bottle is a classic cause of accidents; Act 528 also deals with label and container rules.

The colour bands

The label has a coloured band showing how dangerous the product is to people in a single or short exposure. The World Health Organization sorts pesticides into classes by this acute hazard: Ia extremely hazardous, Ib highly hazardous, II moderately hazardous, III slightly hazardous, and U unlikely to present an acute hazard in normal use. Labels use four colour bands:

Some countries vary a little, so check the band on the actual Ghana label.

Picture signs (pictograms)

Many labels carry small pictures: a skull for poison, gloves, boots, a mask, goggles, a fish for danger to water, a hand held up for stop. Pictures help people who read little. Learn the common ones from the labels your trainer gives you, and write what each means in your logbook. Teach them to a friend who cannot read.

What to wear: the usual kit

The label decides. These are the items most often asked for:

In the cocoa study, boots were worn by 97.5%, long-sleeved shirts by 83%, hats by 73%, overalls by 71%, masks by 31%, gloves by 10.77% and goggles by 5%. Those two last items protect the face and hands, the parts that get splashed most. The reasons farmers gave for not wearing PPE: too costly (51.89%), uncomfortable (30.50%) and not available (17.54%). In the Ashaiman irrigation scheme, of 74 farmers observed, none wore goggles (summary only).

Employer's duty. If you employ people to spray, you must provide protective clothing and require them to use it. Treat the cost of PPE as part of the cost of the job.

Dressing, undressing and cleaning

Putting on (before you open anything):

1. Wash and dry your hands. Cover cuts with a waterproof plaster.
2. Put on the coverall or long clothes, then the boots, with trouser legs over the boots.
3. Put on the apron if you are mixing.
4. Put on the mask, then goggles, then the hat.
5. Put on the gloves last.

Taking off (after work, away from the field and children):

1. Rinse the outside of your gloves in clean water while still wearing them.
2. Take off the apron, then the coverall, and hang them on a line. Do not touch your face.
3. Take off the boots, then goggles, mask and hat.
4. Take off the gloves last, turning them inside out.
5. Wash your hands and face with soap and clean water. Bath with soap and put on clean clothes.

Cleaning and storage of PPE:

• Wash PPE separately from family clothes. In the cocoa study, 23% of farmers washed PPE with other clothes. That puts poison in your family's laundry.
• Wash the used coverall with soap and water every day you spray, and hang it in the shade. Rinse boots and gloves inside and out.
• Throw away cracked gloves and torn coveralls. Do not wear damaged PPE.
• Keep PPE away from the chemical store, in a clean, dry place that children cannot reach.
• Never wear PPE to the house, to eat, to the market or to church.

Where to buy PPE, and the cost

Buy from licensed agro-input dealers and hardware shops (shop names not found; ask your extension officer). Prices change and no dated cedi price list was found, so get three quotes and write the date. Online listings exist (Jiji, Jumia). If the kit is too costly, buy boots, gloves and goggles first, then add the rest. Do not use an old jerrycan, a plastic sack or rain coat instead of the right items; they hold the poison against your skin. No low-performance substitutes.

Common mistakes with PPE, and fixes

Check yourself

1. Which colour band is the most dangerous?
2. Does a green band mean you can skip the gloves? Why or why not?
3. Why do you pull your trouser legs over your boots?

Competency standard

Range. One knapsack sprayer, clean water only. Evidence. Calibration sheet with sums; observed mixing steps.

Why calibrate

Calibrating means measuring how much water your sprayer puts out over a set area when you walk at your normal pace. Then you know how many tanks your field needs. The label then tells you how much product goes into one tank of that size. Too little product and the pest survives; too much wastes money, harms the crop and the environment, and breaks the label.

Know your sprayer

A knapsack sprayer is carried on your back. A lever-operated type is pumped with one hand while the other holds the lance. A motorised type has an engine. Asking prices on a Ghana listing site (not verified, date unknown) were about GH¢159 to GH¢260 for a manual 16 L, GH¢420 for a 20 L manual, about GH¢699 to GH¢799 for an 18 L battery type, and about GH¢2,500 to GH¢3,499 for a motorised one. Prices change. Check with sellers.

Parts: tank with lid and filter; pump and lever; pressure chamber; hose; lance; trigger valve; nozzle; harness straps.

Step 1: Check the sprayer (before every use)

1. Fill the tank with clean water and close the lid. Do not wear PPE for this water check, but work outdoors.
2. Pump and look for leaks at the lid, hose joints, pump seal and trigger. A leaking sprayer drips poison on your back.
3. Check the nozzle. A worn or damaged nozzle gives uneven spray. Replace it with the same type; never change nozzle type to "get through faster" without advice.
4. Spray water onto a dry floor or board. A good spray gives an even, steady pattern with no dripping and no jet.
5. Check the harness is comfortable and the lever moves smoothly.
6. Write any fault in the diary and fix it before real use. Never unblock a nozzle with your mouth; use a soft brush or clean water and a straw or wire as shown by your trainer, with gloves.

Step 2: Calibrate with water

You need a tape or 100 m of string, a stopwatch (or phone), a measuring jug with marks, a notebook, clean water and a calculator. Work on the same kind of ground as the field and carry the tank as full as you would in the field.

1. Walk the speed. Mark 100 m. Walk it with the sprayer on your back, pumping the lever and swinging the lance as you will in the field. Time it in seconds. Repeat twice more and average the three times.
2. Work out your speed: speed in km/h = 360 ÷ seconds for 100 m.
3. Measure the flow. Hold the nozzle over the measuring jug and spray for exactly one minute, pumping as in the field. Read the litres. Repeat and average. That is flow in litres per minute.
4. Measure the swath. Spray on dry ground and measure the width of the wet strip in metres at the height you will spray. That is the swath width.
5. Work out litres per hectare: litres per hectare = (flow in L/min × 600) ÷ (speed in km/h × swath in m).
6. Change to litres per acre: multiply by 0.4047, because 1 acre is 0.4047 hectare.
7. Work out litres for your field: litres per acre × number of acres.
8. Work out the number of tanks: litres for the field ÷ tank size.

Worked example 1 (all numbers are an example)

You walk 100 m in 72 seconds. The nozzle gives 1.0 litre a minute. The swath is 1.5 m. Your tank holds 16 L. The field is 2 acres.

The working above was checked by script. What this tells you: your sprayer, used at your pace, puts about 32 L of water on each acre. So a 16 L tank covers about half an acre.

What it does not tell you: how much product to put in. The label gives the product amount for a tank or for an area. You copy it from the label into your diary. This manual gives no product amounts.

Worked example 2 (example)

100 m in 90 seconds is 360 ÷ 90 = 4 km/h. Flow 0.9 L/min, swath 1.2 m. Litres per hectare = (0.9 × 600) ÷ (4 × 1.2) = 540 ÷ 4.8 = 112.5 L/ha. Per acre: 112.5 × 0.4047 = 45.5 L. For 1.5 acres: about 68.3 L, which is 4.27 tanks of 16 L. Walking slower gives more water on each acre. That is why you must calibrate again whenever you change nozzle, pace or pressure.

What changes the answer

So use the same pace, pressure and height as your calibration, and re-calibrate if anything changes.

Step 3: Mix and load safely (use water for practice)

Do these in the order shown, with the product's label open beside you.

1. Read the label. Find the amount for one tank. Write it in your diary. (In training: the practice label.)
2. Dress in full PPE, as the label says, before you open anything.
3. Choose the place. Outdoors, on flat ground, away from streams, wells, ponds, children, animals and food. Never mix near a water source (the Act allows the EPA to protect water, and inspectors may investigate water pollution).
4. Fill the tank about half with clean water.
5. Measure the product with a cup or cap used only for pesticide, standing at the level of the liquid. Never use a cup from the kitchen.
6. Pour slowly into the tank, low down, so it does not splash or puff up.
7. Top up the tank with water to the correct volume. Close the lid and shake gently.
8. Never mix two products unless the label says so. Never add soap, oil or anything else to a registered pesticide, because the Act forbids changing a registered product's formulation or use.
9. Never use more than the label says. More is not stronger protection; it is more danger, cost and residue.
10. Mix only what you need today. Leftover mix is waste and a hazard. Plan the tank loads with the calibration sums.
11. Rinse the measuring cup three times into the tank. Close the product container tightly and put it back in the store.
12. Clean the outside of the sprayer with a wet cloth before you put it on your back. Wash the splashes off your gloves.

Common mistakes and fixes

Check yourself

1. Why do you calibrate with water first?
2. Where do you find how much product goes in one tank?
3. Give two things you do before you open a pesticide container.

Competency standard

Range. A practice plot, water only, practice labels. Evidence. Observed water spraying; completed diary; oral questions.

Choosing the time

These are principles. Numbers (for example, a wind speed) come from the label if it gives any. We could not read a source with Ghana wind or weather numbers, so we give none.

Before you start (field checks)

1. Walk the plot and note where people, animals, water and neighbouring crops are.
2. Check the wind direction by watching a leaf or a strip of cloth.
3. Check the sprayer again, the PPE, and that you have water, soap and a towel.
4. Plan the route so you walk away from the sprayed area, not into it (so you do not step through the spray). Many extension guides say walk backwards or sideways to stay out of the mist, but we did not read a source for this, so ask your trainer to demonstrate.
5. Tell people nearby. Put a warning sign (cloth on a stick) at the field edge.

Spraying steps

1. Plan the direction with your trainer so the wind carries spray away from you and you do not walk through wet crop (we found no source for the exact direction, so the trainer demonstrates).
2. Keep the same pace, pressure and height as you used in calibration.
3. Keep the nozzle at the height and distance the label and your trainer say.
4. Overlap the swaths a little; do not leave stripes or spray twice.
5. Keep your face turned away from the mist.
6. If the wind changes, stop. If your nozzle blocks, stop, move upwind, clean it with gloves on. Never blow into it.
7. If you feel unwell, stop at once. Dizzy, sick, headache, heavy sweating or tight chest: go to Unit 6.
8. When the tank is empty, move to a safe place and refill outside the spray area.
9. When finished, empty and rinse the sprayer as in Unit 5, wash PPE, wash yourself.

Re-entry and pre-harvest intervals

Both are waiting times. Both are on the label. Both belong to the product, not to the crop in general. This manual gives no number, because numbers differ by product and the label is the only place to take them from.

The pre-harvest interval exists so the amount left on the crop (the residue) falls within the maximum residue limit, which is set from FAO and WHO scientific advice. In Ghana it is an offence to knowingly harvest or sell treated food except in line with the prescribed interval.

How to use them:

1. Find "waiting period" or "pre-harvest interval" and "re-entry" on the label.
2. Copy the numbers in your diary beside the date of the spray.
3. Count forward and write the earliest safe harvest date and the earliest re-entry in the diary and on a sign at the field.
4. If you cannot read the label, do not harvest or enter until a trainer or extension officer helps. A single Ethiopian study suggested waiting at least 72 hours when a label cannot be read. That is one study, not a Ghana rule, so do not use it as a rule.
5. Tell buyers and workers. Never sell early.

The spray diary

The diary is your proof that you followed the label. It protects your family and your market. Record right after spraying. The longer you wait, the less accurate it is. The fields below are the ones most guides agree on.

Keep your spray diary for at least two years (advice; no farmer rule found). Dealers must keep sales records for ten years under the 1996 Act. Use a tick-box diary and a buddy to help if you cannot write fast (see the accessibility section).

Check yourself

1. Which way should the wind blow when you spray?
2. Where do you find the pre-harvest interval?
3. What do you do when you cannot read the label?

Competency standard

Range. Practice store, water, empty clean bottles. Evidence. Store check; rinse demonstration; oral questions.

The problem today

In the cocoa study of 503 farmers, 75% left empty containers on the farm, 59% burned them, 45% buried them, 28% threw them in a pit latrine and 18% reused them after washing. In a 2013 KNUST study about 26% of farmers used empty containers for drinks and food (summary only). A 2010 report of 15 deaths in Upper East Region was linked mainly to poor storage. Five people died in Akakpokope (South Tongu) from food containing a pesticide (date not given). Never reuse a pesticide container for anything.

The safe store

Buy only what you will use this season. Old product that is past its expiry date or damaged is a danger; the Act forbids selling deteriorated product. Ask the dealer or the EPA how to dispose of it; do not dump it.

Cleaning the sprayer

1. After the last tank, put on your PPE.
2. Pour the small amount left back onto the crop if the label allows, or ask your trainer. Never into a stream or drain.
3. Fill the tank with about a quarter of clean water. Shake. Pour the rinse water into the next tank to be sprayed on the same crop, or as the label and your trainer say (general practice; trainer to confirm). Repeat.
4. Wash the outside with a cloth and bucket water. Never wash a sprayer in a stream, pond or at the well.
5. Take off the nozzle and clean it with a soft brush. Do not blow through it.
6. Let the sprayer dry upside down in the shade. Store it with the tank dry, in the store, not in the house.
7. Mark the sprayer "herbicide only" or "insecticide only" if you can, and do not use it for another type. A sprayer that held herbicide can kill a crop sprayed with something else.

Empty containers: triple rinse

Do this when you empty the container into the tank, not hours later, because the liquid dries and cannot be washed out. With full PPE on:

1. Empty the container fully into the sprayer. Let it drain for a few seconds.
2. Fill it about one quarter with clean water.
3. Put the cap on and shake for about 30 seconds.
4. Pour the rinse water into the sprayer tank.
5. Repeat three times.
6. Puncture the container so it cannot be reused for food or water, and take the cap off.
7. Keep the rinsed, punctured containers locked up until the dealer, MoFA or EPA gives you a way to dispose of them. We found no Ghana scheme to collect empty containers, so ask the dealer.
8. Never reuse, burn or bury containers near the home or in the field, and never throw them in water or a pit latrine. FAO guidance for pesticide drums says do not burn or bury them in the field.

Paper and plastic sachets: shake out, rinse if the label asks, store them with other containers, never in the kitchen fire.

Small spills

We did not read a Ghana source for a spill procedure. The steps below are common safe practice. Your trainer must confirm them with the EPA or the CropLife Ghana office before you use them in real life.

1. Keep people away. Stop children and animals going near. Put on full PPE first.
2. Stop the leak if you can do it safely: turn the container upright.
3. Cover the liquid with soil, sand or sawdust to soak it up.
4. Sweep it up into a labelled container, with a dustpan used only for pesticide.
5. Keep it away from water. Never wash down a drain, a stream or a well.
6. Wash the place with a little water and soap if your trainer says so, and take it to the same container.
7. Take off PPE and wash. Wash yourself with soap and water.
8. Write in the diary what happened.
9. For a large spill, anything near water, or if people feel ill: stay away, call for help, call 112 if someone is in danger.

Stock list

A stock list shows what you have so you buy only what you need and remove old items. It has: product name, registration number, quantity, date bought, expiry date, and "used on". Dealers keep sales records for ten years.

Check yourself

1. Why must you never reuse a pesticide container?
2. How do you triple rinse?
3. Where must a pesticide store be?

Competency standard

Range. Role-play, a practice plot or garden. Evidence. Role-play; scouting sheet; oral questions.

Signs of poisoning

Many farm pesticides are organophosphates and carbamates, which attack the nervous system. Early signs often appear within a few hours (usually within 12 hours):

Not all pesticides give the same signs. When anyone is sick after being near spraying, treat it as pesticide poisoning until a doctor says otherwise.

First-aid awareness: what to do now

You are not a doctor. Your job is to protect yourself, stop more poison getting in, and get help fast.

Do these in order:

1. Protect yourself first. Do not touch contaminated clothes or skin with bare hands. Wear gloves.
2. Get the person away from the spray area to fresh air, in the shade.
3. Call for help. Call 112 or send somebody to the nearest clinic or hospital. Do not wait for symptoms to get worse.
4. Take off the contaminated clothes, and put them in a bag.
5. Skin: wash well with plenty of soap and clean water.
6. Eyes: flush with clean running water for 15 to 20 minutes, holding the eyelids open.
7. Swallowed: do not make the person vomit unless the label says so. Do not give food or drink unless the label says so (we could not verify this point, so follow the label and the emergency worker).
8. Breathing or fits: lay the person on the side; keep the airway clear; do not put anything in the mouth. Get help.
9. Take the container or the label to the hospital, so the doctor knows the product.
10. Tell the staff what, how much, when and how.

Hospital treatment, such as medicines called atropine and oximes, is for doctors and nurses only. Do not try to give any medicine.

Who must not spray

For safety, do not let pregnant or breast-feeding women, or children, mix, spray, wash equipment or handle containers. Give them tasks away from sprays, such as weeding earlier than spraying, record keeping and scouting. This is an adviser's rule, not a law we could cite. UNICEF Ghana says children are vulnerable even before birth when the mother is exposed, and an information sheet links exposure in pregnancy to later problems in children (summary only). In the Kintampo survey, 69.3% of households using pesticide said women helped spray, half with babies on their backs (summary only). A baby on the back of a person who sprays gets the same mist. Do not do it.

Spray less: scouting

The best way to be safe is not to need the spray. Integrated pest management (IPM) means watching the crop, knowing the pests and their enemies, and using chemicals only when needed.

Scouting steps. Scouting means walking the field on a regular day each week and counting.

1. Take a notebook, a hand lens if you have one, and a pencil.
2. Walk a zigzag or "W" route through the field. Do not only look at the edges.
3. Stop at 10 spots (or more for a large field). At each spot, look closely at 5 plants (the same number each time).
4. Look at leaves (top and underside), stems, buds and fruits. Count pests, eggs, holes or damage. Note natural enemies (ladybirds, spiders, wasps).
5. Record: date, spot number, count, damage, weather.
6. Work out the average per plant (total ÷ plants looked at). Compare with last week.
7. Threshold. An action threshold is the pest level or damage at which control pays. Ask your extension officer for the threshold for your crop and pest. We found no Ghana thresholds.
8. If the count is below the threshold, do not spray. Scout again next week.

Lower-risk ways to cut pests

These are ideas at concept level. Ask your extension officer how to do each for your crop.

Neem, in sequence only. CABI and the University of Ghana trained 44 vegetable farmers in Anloga in the Volta Region: collect mature neem fruits, remove the pulp, dry the seeds, pound them into a paste, mix with water, strain it and spray. The source gave no dilution, no soaking time and no safety advice, so we give none. Learn the amounts from a trainer who has the method from a trusted source. Wear gloves and wash after handling it.

Farmer field schools use season-long field studies in groups, and the FAO's training guide for fall armyworm is a free example (summary only). Ada East District Assembly trained women in making organic pesticide in 2024 (summary only). Ask your MoFA office about a field school near you.

Check yourself

1. What is the national emergency number?
2. Name two early signs of pesticide poisoning.
3. What do you do before you decide to spray?

Competency standard

Range. Local area; one-page plan. Evidence. One-page plan; costing sums.

Choose a location

Many women farmers rely on spraying gangs: 22% of women cocoa farmers rely entirely on spraying gangs, against 17% of men. Spraying is tiring, so hiring help is common.

Business ideas that fit the rules

Costing a spraying job (example)

Use your own local prices. This is an example:

• PPE kit: GH¢320 (example, as in Unit 2).
• Sprayer: GH¢200 (example; listings of a manual 16 L ranged from about GH¢159 to GH¢260, unverified).
• Charge: GH¢60 per acre (example; no local price found). You do 3 acres a day = GH¢180.
• Daily costs: helper GH¢40, wear and PPE replacement GH¢15, transport GH¢10 = GH¢65 (examples).
• Daily profit: 180 − 65 = GH¢115.
• Start-up cost: 320 + 200 = GH¢520. Break-even: 520 ÷ 115 = 4.5, so about 5 working days.

The farmer buys the product. You never include it in your price. The minimum daily wage for 2026 is GH¢21.77; pay your workers at least that if they are employed.

Rules you must check

• Registered products only; label rules; waiting times.
• If you spray for money: the commercial-applicator licence under the 2025 law. The EPA procedure lists the documents, an inspection of storage, transport and disposal, and a fee. The fee and the current form were not found. Ask the EPA Western Region before you advertise.
• If you employ workers: you must provide and require protective clothing.
• Business registration, tax and records are in your Level 3 module and with the Registrar-General and GRA.

Market yourself

• Show that you are safe: full PPE, a diary for each customer, the label and registration number on every product.
• Give a free water calibration demonstration at a farmers' meeting.
• Offer a written spray diary to every customer. Buyers and exporters like records.
• Never promise a result or say a product is "safe". Say "I follow the label".
• Get customers to recommend you. Keep your phone number on a small card.

Exporters and markets care about residues. Ghana's food regulator said it could not analyse pesticide residues and had last surveyed them in 2019 and 2023. A farmer with records shows he or she follows the label.

Accessibility

Ghana's Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715) covers access and work. We found no source on adapted sprayers or on pesticide jobs for persons with disabilities. The advice below is the author's suggestion, so check each person's own needs:

• Workable with seated or low-effort work: record keeping, diary writing, scouting (seated or with an aide), demonstrations, advice, dealer or training work, supervising a mixing station from a seat.
• Not suitable: heavy knapsack spraying for people with some mobility, back, breathing or vision conditions.
• Reading: a person who cannot read the label must never spray alone. A trained helper reads the label aloud, and the farmer copies the numbers in a tick-box diary.
• Women and people who read little: use picture signs, colour bands, demonstrations, group learning with a reader and a buddy for the diary. In the cocoa study 48% of women had no formal education against 15% of men, and 65% of men could identify approved and unapproved pesticides but only 5% of women. Training must fit the way people learn.
• Hearing: written instructions and signs for deaf workers; a visual signal to stop.
• Equipment: lighter sprayers, a seat while mixing, large-print labels and diaries, a helper for lifting a full tank.

Check yourself

1. Can you sell pesticides without a licence?
2. Name two jobs in this business that need no chemical.
3. Who must never spray alone?

1. Name the three ways pesticide can get into your body.
2. Where do you find the amount of product, the water and the waiting times?
3. What does the EPA registration number tell you?
4. Which colour band is the most dangerous, and what does the band not tell you?
5. Which three PPE items do you buy first if money is short?
6. Why do you calibrate with water?
7. Work out the speed if you walk 100 m in 90 seconds.
8. Why must you never mix two products unless the label says so?
9. What is the pre-harvest interval and why is it important?
10. How do you triple rinse a container?
11. What is the national emergency number, and what do you take to the hospital?
12. Name two jobs in this field that do not involve selling chemicals.

Best next reads: the FAO and WHO labelling guidance and the WHO hazard classification; the FAO fall armyworm farmer-field-school guide; the Hub's Basic Vegetable Production and Cocoa Farm Rehabilitation and Good Practices manuals; and your district MoFA extension office. Ask CropLife Ghana for free safe-use manuals (none found online).

Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.