National 4 (Spotlight Weekly)

“There Is Misuse And Overuse Of Pesticides”

— Dhruba N. Manandhar

DHRUBA N. MANANDHAR, chief of Entomology Division at Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) has been doing research in the area of pesticides. At his own initiative, Manandhar is leading the research on the misuse and overuse of insecticides and pesticides in Nepal. Manandhar spoke to KESHAB POUDEL at his office on various matters related to pesticides. Excerpts:

How do you see the state of use of pesticides in Nepal?

The national consumption of pesticides is about 56 tons of a.i. formulation annually. It is not that alarming and worrying while advocating the ill-effect of insecticides on human health and environment simply because farmers in real practice are not pouring down huge quantities of highly toxic insecticides in most of the food and other crops. Logically, it will be unfair to undercut the cumulative contribution of insecticides on quality and production of food fiber. However, major emphasis should be given to restrict the indiscriminate use of highly toxic broad spectrum insecticides in some crops like vegetables, cotton and tea.

Why do farmers use the pesticides?

Insecticides are the first line of defense to preserve food grains and vegetables from insects. On a worldwide basis, crops lost to pests are estimated to be about 35 percent. In Nepal, farmers use pesticides as a remedy for the outbreak of leap hopper, and bollworm in cotton, plant hopper in rice, army worm in maize, tuber moth in potato, aphids and scales insets in fruits, fruit flies in fruits and vegetables. Insecticides could rapidly bring large insect population under control with immediate knock down effect.

How do you see the overuse and misuse of insecticides in different crops?

There are certain crops like vegetables in which use of pesticides are taking place on commercial basis. In those areas where farmers are doing commercial vegetable farming, I find the misuse of pesticides. In tea also, farmers use the pesticides. The cotton farming is also one are where one can find rampant use of pesticides. Our researches have shown that cotton is the highest consumer of pesticides in Nepal. These are the certain crops where pesticides are either misused or overused. Overall, the total quantity of pesticides use in Nepal is low. Of the total amount, vegetable crops consume higher amount of pesticides as compared to cereal crops.

Don’t you have any alternatives for the pesticides?

As entomologist, I would be happy if someone gives a better alternative to pesticides. I am concerned not about the use of pesticides but its misuse and overuse. We cannot ban all the pesticides but what we can do is to use less harmful and toxic pesticides. We cannot increase our fertility without using pesticides. It must be used and we must make farmers aware about their proper use. It must be applied in accordance to the need. In many cases, we can avoid the use of pesticides. Nepalese farmers can avoid the rampant misuse of pesticides.

What kinds of new alternatives does NARC recommend?

We are also recommending using less harmful pesticides in case of urgent requirement. Our government, too, has banned many other highly toxic pesticides and the government is still in the process of banning more pesticides. Despite all these restrictions, there are still certain kinds of toxic pesticides that are sneaking through the open border. We must not permit the pesticides, which are harmful to health and environment. The problem with farmers is that they want highly toxic pesticides to contain the insects. In early days, there were many toxic pesticides but there are only a few such pesticides now. Since all pesticides consist of toxins, farmers must take certain precautions. But often farmers do not take it seriously.

Since people are talking about the alternative methods like organic, how viable do you think such alternatives are?

I don’t see any absolute alternative against the pesticides. What we can do is reduce the level of use of such pesticides. In cotton, farmers are spraying pesticides for more than 12-15 times a year. We can reduce it by half opting for better pesticides. We can use parasite predators which are more effective in some cases. We also have bacteria that can be used against insects. We have already recommended such bacteria and parasite predators. We are also encouraging farmers to use botanical pesticides. Since alternative methods are not as effective as pesticides, farmers choose pesticide in the end. In many places, use of pesticides can be reduced by just changing the present agriculture methods.

How do you see the change in the pattern of use of pesticides in the last two decades?

In the beginning, pesticides were only used as medicines. Pesticide was introduced in Nepal with good intentions. In early 1960s, pesticide was imported to eradicate Malaria. The government imported DDT pesticide to spray against malaria. It was used to contain malaria. After that the DDT was used in other crops. Pesticides were widely popularized when there was a call for green revolution. Along with other countries of the world, Nepal, too, started to popularize pesticides. It also supported to increase their production. Farmers saw pesticide as a miracle to contain insects. Unfortunately, policy makers had not seriously realized harmful effects of pesticides.

What are its effects on environment?

The recent studies have shown that the pesticides have many effects on the environment and human health. Some even hold the view that pesticides have effect on the ground water and soil. If there is overuse of pesticides, it will contaminate the ground water. Now there is overuse and misuse of pesticides. Farmers are getting a lot of benefits in the commercial farming by using pesticides.

Why do farmers use pesticides in vegetables?

Farmers also use certain chemicals to keep the freshness in their products like tomato, brinjal and green vegetables. I don’t want to name the districts but some farmers usually put such products in water mixed with chemical before taking it to market. They want to sell a shining product. Since green vegetables lose their freshness quickly, farmers use such pesticides to preserve freshness. Farmers here learn (such tricks) from their counterparts in India. Most of the pesticides are by product of petroleum products. So, they use oily pesticides.

What kinds of pesticides do they use?

The farmers use differing kinds of pesticides in Nepal including some toxic and some highly toxic. They use mylathine which is not very toxic. If we wash the vegetables a couple of times the residue will reduce. We are also now doing research on several control tactics using integrated pest management (IPM) to reduce the use of insecticides in the field. It must, however, be noted that these tools are being employed as alternatives and not as substitutes for insecticides.

What will be the effect on human health?

It is quite clear that almost all pesticides can cause illness and in worst situation, death to the human. Most people quite frequently might have been consuming vegetable with a certain level of pesticide residue. This might cause ill effect on human health depending upon type and amount of pesticide used. We have yet to analyze the impacts and implications of toxic insecticides. Only after doing detailed research, can we make specific recommendations. But, naturally it will harm pregnant women, children and young. Green vegetables are essential for human. Some disease including cancer and tumor are also related to pesticides. But we need more research.

Do we have any labs to test?

We are building lab at the Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) to analyze pesticide residue. Some of our colleagues have already received training in India. This is a very sensitive issue so I cannot disclose the districts. Our duty is to generate awareness against the misuse and overuse of pesticides. We have to mobilize the mass farmers to reduce the level of pesticides. Europe has set certain standard for the use of pesticide. Since Nepal is finally entering into World Trade Organization (WTO), we must prevent the misuse of pesticides. Many tea producers and vegetable farmers are coming to us to certify the residue of pesticide. As an exporter of vegetables and tea, Nepal has to set certain standards.

How do you see the role of Green Peace in pesticides control?

Green Peace has supported to safely repack about 75 -80 metric tons of highly toxic pesticides lying in our godowns. Since we don’t have any technology to destroy outdated highly toxic pesticides, Green Peace is asking concerned governments to return it to their own country. Green Peace is supporting us on ways to destroy such a large quantity of toxic material. Even some non-governmental organizations are lobbying to destroy the highly toxic deposit of out dated pesticides. I have also talked with the government officials on this.