Pesticide practices in some Egyptian exportation farms.

Information related to pesticide practices in green beans and strawberry fields in some selected exportation farms in Egypt was obtained through questionnaire forms. Such forms were randomly distributed among different target exporters at Giza, Ismaellia, Sharkia, Behirah and Alfayoum governorates. Questionnaire outputs indicated that the percent of the rejected export by importers due to high levels of pesticide residues reached 11.11 and 7.69% in green beans and strawberry respectively. The recommended rates of the used pesticides established by the Ministry of Agriculture and/or EU guidelines were followed by 86.67 and 69.23% of these vegetables growers, respectively. Questionnaire outputs indicated that the percent of exporters who were repeating the application of all or each pesticide during the same season of green beans and strawberry reached 48.89 and 42.31%, respectively. Furthermore, 15.56 and 7.69% of growers followed the recommended Pre Harvest interval (PHI) for each pesticide used in green beans and strawberry. On the other hand, no storage period was followed by 40 and 76.92% of the exporters for green beans and strawberry, respectively. Concerning the transportation conditions data showed that 55.56 and 88.46% of the exporters used cooling trucks with green beans and strawberry, respectively.