Judicious Use of Pesticides a Must

The excessive, indiscriminate and unregulated use of pesticides has led to new problems and has resulted in the presence of pesticide residues in the food chain and environment. It is not only the responsibility of the government but also the manufacturers to advise the farming community to make safe and judicious use of pesticides. Pesticides should be used when necessary and farmers should always adhere to the set of guidelines recommended by the scientists and the experts.

There have been groups who have an agenda to nail the manufacturers by misleading the farming community.  Although various methods were used to control pests in different pest management systems, pesticides continue to be the major component of most of the pest control programme and will probably remain so in the near future. If crops are required to develop in a healthy manner, it is very necessary that undesirable and destructive micro-organism and plants are eliminated.

Today pesticides (insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, rodenticides, nematicides etc) are extensively used all over the world to save crops in the field and in the storage. Evidence suggests that not only are chemical pesticides used in increasing quantities but they are sometimes used and handled in an irresponsible way. There is a huge misconception that use of pesticides has led to the problems affecting human health and environment.

In developed countries the usage of pesticides is 20 times more than India; their crop yields are much higher than ours. For this we must take steps to spread awareness on the judicious use of pesticides by organising educational programmes, seminars, publicity campaigns, radio and TV talk and kisan melas from time to time.

We must realise that pesticides are as important as any other ingredient for the crop production in this country. Pesticides like drugs are beneficial to man when properly used: if misused they may be extremely dangerous. It is entirely possible for a user to handle pesticides safely for many years with no obvious ill-effects to himself or his environment. The ill effects are preventable. Safe handling of pesticides by the user may be dealt with under the following precautionary measures:

Pesticide Selection

- Before making a selection, the pest problem should be identified.

- Select a pesticide that would control the pest with minimum danger to other organisms.

- The pesticide should be one approved, registered and recommended.

- Buy only the required quantity of pesticide and avoid storage.

Despite the fact that judicious use of pesticides can prevent crop losses and provide economic benefits to the farmers, pesticide consumption in India is limited to about 25% of the arable land. Pesticides are the last input in the agricultural process but are important for the sustainable development of agriculture and food security.