Introduction:

Use practices by small farmers in impoverished rural areas are related to high occupational and para-occupational risk of exposure to pesticides.

Objective:

To describe the characteristics of the knowledge, attitudes and practices of pesticide use by farmers in a rural area of Copán Ruinas, Honduras.

Methods:

Descriptive, cross-sectional study, carried out in Copán Ruinas, Honduras, C.A. 2019, it included 81 farmers (n = 81) older than 18 years from three contiguous rural communities.

Results:

Only 3.7% of the farmers referred training, 39.5% (32/81) store pesticide at home, 30.9% handle poison without gloves, 19.8% (16/81) eliminate waste in the environment, 27.2%, 22/81) wash equipment at home. One farmer (1.2%, 1/81) reported knowing the meaning of the colors on the labels.

Discussion:

The very low level of schooling could be the cause of low percentage of knowledge regarding the risk of exposure to pesticides. The positive attitude of the farmer towards risk prevention coincides with other authors. Some practices referred by farmers induce risk of para-occupational exposure, coinciding with what has been reported in the literature.

Conclusion:

The low percentage of knowledge, attitude and practices in the use of pesticides by farmers in rural areas evaluated coincide with that reported by regional and Latin American literature, possibly associated with a context of low socioeconomic level that entails low investment capacity in prevention and that could be an important cause that contributes to the risk of occupational and para-occupational exposure due to the use of pesticides.

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