Pesticide use in Nepal Agriculture
Improper Pesticide use: a contemporary issue of Nepal
Pesticides are any substance used to protect crop against insects, weeds, fungi and other pests. In Nepal improper and unmanaged Pesticide has become one of the major issue in the present context. As in Nepal most of farmers are unaware about dose, proper use and banned pesticides. Still there are so many pesticides which are banned in European countries but are used freely in Nepal. Nepal government has recently banned 21 pesticide which were extremely hazardous to environment and living organisms. Unfortunately most of the pesticides which were banned ten year ago in Nepal can also be found easily in different Agro vet of Nepal and are used by farmers. Among the banned pesticide most of them are Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) pesticides. These POP chemicals don’t break easily and can remain for long time in environment. They are also lipophilic i.e. soluble in fat and hence these get accumulated in body fat of animal in every increasing quantity leading to long term physiological effects such as infertility, cancer, hormonal disruption etc.
SOLUTIONS
In this present context of Nepal most of us becoming interested in agriculture even in urban areas people in small land also do Kitchen gardening, indoor gardening, bonsai, etc. But unfortunately in all these we are using different chemical means to control pest. These pesticides have high potential to cause acute and chronic health effect in human. There are some pesticide which when sprayed to vegetables then these cannot be eaten for some days like 15-20 day also. So not only farmers cultivating in large scales common consumers, people cultivating in small scale should also have following basic knowledge about pesticides.
Farmers in Nepal should follow Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Farmers should first try to solve pest infestation by non- chemical means applying bio pesticides like Neem leaves boiled water, cow urine mixed with water, jholmol, etc for different pest like aphids and other .These bio pesticide can be easily prepared by farmers in their homes.
Farmer should be able to identify beneficial insect in field like ladybugs, bees, ground beetles, Green Lacewings etc. These beneficial insect helps in proper fruiting of crops as insects like bee help in pollination of different plant and these also prey upon different harmful pest in our field and limits pesticide application. Harmful pest like Aphids, white flies, etc in different crop are fed by Ladybugs similarly Ground beetles fed on slugs, caterpillars, cutworms and so other. Hence these beneficial insect limits pesticide application in field but with application of chemical pesticide in field it not only kills the harmful insect but also equally affects to useful inesects.
In Nepal most of the farmers are still unknown about the effect of overdose of pesticide. At first they need to be aware of these Pesticides are Poison not medicine and so they need to be applied only when it is necessary. If it is applied then it should be applied in proper dose.
There are generally four types of label done in pesticides bottle in Nepal on the basis of their toxic level
Red label indicates extremely toxic
Yellow label indicates highly toxic
Blue label indicates moderately toxic
Green label indicates slightly toxic
If pest infestation is not controlled by Biological means and we need to control by chemical means then pesticide should be applied by selecting pesticides first with green labelled pesticide if it is again uncontrollable then blue if again not then yellow similarly red can be applied. These label also affect the consuming time of food of sprayed crops like pesticide sprayed with green can be eaten with 2-3 days but for red we need to wait for more than two weeks for safe consumption.
While applying pesticide proper protection and safety measure provided by WHO should be followed as they are highly toxic.
Pesticides are any substance used to protect crop against insects, weeds, fungi and other pests. In Nepal improper and unmanaged Pesticide has become one of the major issue in the present context. As in Nepal most of farmers are unaware about dose, proper use and banned pesticides. Still there are so many pesticides which are banned in European countries but are used freely in Nepal. Nepal government has recently banned 21 pesticide which were extremely hazardous to environment and living organisms. Unfortunately most of the pesticides which were banned ten year ago in Nepal can also be found easily in different Agro vet of Nepal and are used by farmers. Among the banned pesticide most of them are Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) pesticides. These POP chemicals don’t break easily and can remain for long time in environment. They are also lipophilic i.e. soluble in fat and hence these get accumulated in body fat of animal in every increasing quantity leading to long term physiological effects such as infertility, cancer, hormonal disruption etc.
SOLUTIONS
In this present context of Nepal most of us becoming interested in agriculture even in urban areas people in small land also do Kitchen gardening, indoor gardening, bonsai, etc. But unfortunately in all these we are using different chemical means to control pest. These pesticides have high potential to cause acute and chronic health effect in human. There are some pesticide which when sprayed to vegetables then these cannot be eaten for some days like 15-20 day also. So not only farmers cultivating in large scales common consumers, people cultivating in small scale should also have following basic knowledge about pesticides.
Farmers in Nepal should follow Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Farmers should first try to solve pest infestation by non- chemical means applying bio pesticides like Neem leaves boiled water, cow urine mixed with water, jholmol, etc for different pest like aphids and other .These bio pesticide can be easily prepared by farmers in their homes.
Farmer should be able to identify beneficial insect in field like ladybugs, bees, ground beetles, Green Lacewings etc. These beneficial insect helps in proper fruiting of crops as insects like bee help in pollination of different plant and these also prey upon different harmful pest in our field and limits pesticide application. Harmful pest like Aphids, white flies, etc in different crop are fed by Ladybugs similarly Ground beetles fed on slugs, caterpillars, cutworms and so other. Hence these beneficial insect limits pesticide application in field but with application of chemical pesticide in field it not only kills the harmful insect but also equally affects to useful inesects.
In Nepal most of the farmers are still unknown about the effect of overdose of pesticide. At first they need to be aware of these Pesticides are Poison not medicine and so they need to be applied only when it is necessary. If it is applied then it should be applied in proper dose.
There are generally four types of label done in pesticides bottle in Nepal on the basis of their toxic level
Red label indicates extremely toxic
Yellow label indicates highly toxic
Blue label indicates moderately toxic
Green label indicates slightly toxic
If pest infestation is not controlled by Biological means and we need to control by chemical means then pesticide should be applied by selecting pesticides first with green labelled pesticide if it is again uncontrollable then blue if again not then yellow similarly red can be applied. These label also affect the consuming time of food of sprayed crops like pesticide sprayed with green can be eaten with 2-3 days but for red we need to wait for more than two weeks for safe consumption.
While applying pesticide proper protection and safety measure provided by WHO should be followed as they are highly toxic.
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