Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

`Use of pesticides coming down in the country'

Staff Reporter

Thiruvananthapuram: The use of pesticides has been coming down in the country in recent times owing to the promotion of integrated pest management practices and the ban on persistent organo-chlorin pesticides, agricultural scientists have said.

The total pesticide consumption in the country was around 80,000 tonnes in the Nineties and this has come down to less than 46,000 tonnes in 2004-05.

The facts were revealed by agriculturists and scientists from across the country who met here recently at the XV annual group meeting of the All India Network Project on Pesticide Residues, organised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Kerala Agricultural University (KAU).

The network is a Central sector scheme of the Union Ministry of Agriculture to monitor pesticide residues in crops at the national level. Work is being carried out at 12 centres across the country to check the dissipation of pesticides in various crops so as to fix a safe waiting period for various pesticides in crops. As part of the project, scientists have been monitoring the extent of pesticide residues in various food commodities so as to recommend `safe' pesticides and to ensure pesticide-free harvests.

The working group that met here has been compiling the research work conducted in all 12 centres. The group also discussed implementing a quality assurance programme so that all the pesticide residue-testing laboratories can be accredited with ISO 17025 certification.

S. Naseema Beevi, Head of the Department of Entomology, KAU, and coordinator of the project in the State, said high levels of pesticide residues - well above the maximum residue limit - had been found in the vegetable samples tested in Kerala. Vegetables such as bitter gourd, cow pea and okra (lady's finger) especially had high levels of pesticide residues.

She said it was the non-judicious use of the pesticide Endosulfan in cashew plantations for years that had led to major health problems, including severe birth deformities, among the population in Kasaragod. Endosulfan is not recommended for aerial spraying or for cashew, she added.

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