The Philippines is predominantly an agricultural country. Much of its economy is sustained by income generated through farming. Unfortunately these farmers, majority of them, are out of school youths who has carried on this profession as a “hand me down” knowledge from parents. While agriculture has progressed through modern technology, the safety use of agri-biochemical products and modern farming machines, these unschooled workers (farmers) have yet to reckon with these advances. This is a pre and post interventional study aimed to assess the effect of lecture as a form of health education intervention on the knowledge and of farmers on the farm safety practices in Barangays Concepcion and Lambuyugan in Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay. Respondents of this study were farmers who are primarily taking care of the land and the total count of farmers were included in the study. The knowledge and theoretical practices of the respondents were evaluated before and after the intervention using an interviewer-assisted questionnaire. Three post-tests were given; one 1 week after the intervention, 1 month and 2 months after the intervention. A checklist was also used to evaluate the actual practices of the respondents before and after the intervention. To determine knowledge enhancement and retention, ANOVA for Repeated Measures was used. There was a significant increase of knowledge from the pre-intervention to post-test 1 with mean scores of 8.77 and 13.06, respectively. Decay of knowledge was evident with the drop of the mean scores one month (11.47) and two months (11.81) after the intervention. Theoretical practices were found to increase statistically significant in the following theoretical practices (p value=<0.05): not driving the tractor up or down a steep slope at high speed (0.000), going down steep slopes in reverse to avoid tipping forward (0.001), observes speed limits when attached to a trailer, (0.000), not running the tractor in 5th and 6th gear unless the road is good (0.006), positioning the thresher with the direction of the wind (0.021), checking of each belt's alignment and tension (0.001), using of stick to remove straw from the oscillating screen (0.006), rotating the threshing cylinder (0.000), lubricating cylinder and fan bearings (0.000), inspecting the machine regularly (0.000), wearing of mask when spraying (0.000), wearing of long sleeves during spraying (0.006), and not hanging pesticide bottles under the tree (0.040). McNemars test was used to determine the change in the actual practices of farmers and found the following practices to have significant increase after the intervention: going down steep slopes in reverse (0.000), not making sudden turns at high speed (0.0009), observing speed limits when attached to trailer (0.0002), not running the tractor in 5th and 6th gear unless the road is good (0.0077), keeping clear of V-belt, pulleys and flywheel (0.0009), checking of each belt's alignment and tension (0.036), rotating the threshing cylinder (0.0005), lubricating cylinder and fan bearings (0.0044), not rubbing eyes or forehead during application (0.0015), removing clothes after pesticide application (0.0412),and not storing pesticides under the tree (0.0233). This study concluded that health education intervention in the form of lecture is effective in enhancing the knowledge and improving practices of farmers on farm safety practices, however strategies that will address long-term retention of knowledge should be sought.

Keyword: health education farmers farm safety safety practices practices of farmers farming