Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Some Market Garden Crops in Santa, North West Cameroon

Abstract

The increased use of pesticides in crop production, especially in Santa, has left consumers with great fear and uncertainty regarding the fate of residues after consumption in the human body. This study was aimed at performing a multi-residue analysis of crop samples to detect and quantify pesticide residues present, and thus determine their level of contamination. Twelve (12) crop samples (4 samples each of Solanum tuberosum (Irish potato), Solanum lycopersicum (tomato), Capsicum annum (sweet pepper) and Apium graveolens (celery)), were randomly collected from four villages in Santa. The samples were analyzed using the QuEChERS Buffered AOAC 2007.01 method. The results showed the presence of pesticide residues in 58.3% of the samples. Cypermethrin and chlorpyrifos insecticides were detected, though cypermethrin was found in traces. After quantification, the concentration of chlorpyrifos was determined to be far above the CODEX Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) in 28.6% of the samples. Samples with this high concentration of chlorpyrifos were: tomato from Pinyin and Baligham (2.0 and 1.8 μg/g respectively), whereas the Codex MRLs for tomato is 1.0 μg/g. This study raised concerns on the contamination of some garden crops by pesticide residues and calls for the assessment of the health situation of consumers and the analysis of pesticide residues in drinking water resources in this area.