Research Evolution on Environmental Risks Related to Agricultural Pesticide Use in Africa from 1990 to 2021

Agricultural pesticides that control weeds and pests can contaminate non-targeted environments and affect human health and natural ecosystems. The lack of in-depth knowledge about the use of agricultural pesticides and their fate in the environment exposes farmers and natural ecosystems in Africa. This paper evaluates the global productivity of research on agricultural pesticide use and management in Africa from 1990 to 2021 using various bibliometric indices. Scopus extracted a database of 1863 research papers focusing on agricultural pesticides in Africa. The publication of documents increased at an annual rate of 9.9%. The publications covered pesticide types, applied doses, pest targets, risk perception and biological and environmental exposure. Pesticide types, detection frequencies, contamination pathways and measured levels varied according to a matrix of analysis and the studied region. The studies on agricultural pesticides have focused on exposures to humans with a total number of publications (TPN = 505), crop protection (TPN = 472), natural ecosystems (TPN = 263), surface water (TPN = 183), soil (TPN = 131), sediment (TPN = 94), atmosphere (TPN = 24) and groundwater (TPN = 20). The organochlorine insecticides were the most often studied, particularly the molecules of DDT, Endosulfan, Lindane and Chlorpyrifos. The research overview shows an alarming situation. Most pesticide residues, while banned for use, persist at worrying levels in high agricultural production areas.