Tanzania Abstract Small-scale farmers in Africa use pesticides to protect crops against various pests and plant diseases.
Pesticides are generally popular with small-scale farmers in rural areas because of their efficacy.
There is an overall increase in the female labour force in agriculture in rural areas of Africa. Therefore, women are more likely to be involved in the application and use of pesticides in agriculture for pest and plant disease control. Most rural women in Africa are poor, illiterate and lacking in knowledge of pesticide application. All of these factors may lead to misuse and hence cause health problems. This paper discusses the use of agricultural pesticides by rural women in Africa and some of the problems that they are likely to encounter.