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... es. But what has led to this rise in the use of pesticides? Pesticide use has increased since the early 1900 s.
There have been many theories that have come about of why there was a rise in pesticide use. Pesticides contribute to our ability to feed a rapidly expanding world population. Every year there are more and more people on this earth and we need more and more food to feed everyone. Pesticides produce large quantities of crops in a short time-span.
In the past 100 hundred years, larger needs for food have been met primarily by increasing productivity per unit of land. It has been estimated that with the use of pesticides, yields are thirty to thirty-five percent more on average than they would be with the presence of pests (Hussey, 1985). Pests cause severe economic losses for growers and widespread food shortages, starvation, and disintegration of human communities. It is essential for humans to take action to limit the destruction of food crops by pests. Crop pests must be controlled to protect the security of the world food supply.
Pesticides also protect humans against insect-borne diseases. The single most beneficial use of pesticides has been the protection of more than five hundred million people from malaria (Reuveni, 1995). During the 1940 s to the 1960 s, great reliance was placed on pesticides to control insects, mites, and fungi. Pesticides were so effective, however, the growers relied on them to the exclusion of other pest control practices. This led to the overuse of pesticides.
The use of pesticides led to changes in land use by farmers. Farmers have moved more towards a monoculture style of farming (Dinham, 1993). With pesticides, farmers are able to produce massive amounts of a single crop and profit off of it. The process of crop rotation is nullified because of the technique of only cropping one crop. As well, farmers began using pesticides on only a certain percentage of its crops.
As long as the farmer separates his / her crops in an appropriate manner, all of the crops are protected from pests. For example, a farmer may put pesticides on only the first ten percent of its crops, and leave the next 10 percent pesticide free, then put pesticides on the next 10 percent and so on. Techniques such as these have been done to reduce the amount of pesticides that are used. Lots of places have had concerns with the increase in pesticide use and have tried to decrease the amount used like the Philippines. The use of pesticides in Philippine agriculture continues to increase despite the adoption and promotion of the Integrated Pest Management.
Insecticides constitute approximately fifty-five percent, fungicides twenty-two percent, and herbicide sixteen percent of the pesticides used in the country for rice, corn, vegetables, and plantation crops (Pingali, 1995). The extensive use of pesticides and the risks they pose to human health and the environment are now the focus of national concern and interest. The main environmental problems they are concerned about are ground and surface water pollution, resistance of pests to pesticides, and the impact it has on non-target organisms. They have tried to solve these problems by having stricter regulations on the use of pesticides. Also they have been developing more practical, economical, and less environmentally disruptive pest control methods instead of using pesticides. They have also had continuous development and conduct of research and giving training to researchers, extension workers, and farmers (Pingali, 1995).
Despite these government efforts, however, facilities and trained technical personnel are still inadequate to effectively deal with pesticide related problems and concerns. The country needs to further upgrade its existing laboratory facilities, provide adequate funding for their efficient operation, continuously provide manpower development and promote more conscious efforts between the government and the private sector toward minimizing pesticide hazards. Even with all these government policies in place, the use of chemical pesticides still provides the main line of defense against pests in crop production activities in the Philippines. Despite the availability of alternatives to pesticide use, the use of them still has been increasing.
Pest protection is quite critical in a country like the Philippines where agriculture is its major industry, accounting for thirty-six of its export earnings, and twenty-eight percent of its Gross National Product (Davis, 1993). Furthermore, around forty-three percent of the countrys total land area of approximately thirty million hectares is devoted to agricultural production, providing livelihood for approximately seventy percent of its population (Davis, 1993). The use of pesticides is expected to continue to be a significant component in Philippine agriculture. But, it seems inevitable that less pesticide will be used in the future. Research for the future is being done to decrease the use of pesticides. Greater reliance will be placed on biologically based technology.
It has been estimated that pesticide use could be reduced by thirty-five to fifty percent in the United States without lowering crop yields or causing an increase in the price of food (Reuveni, 1995). Some techniques that people are thinking of to protect plants against pests without using pesticides are improving the defenses of the plant and by reducing the destructiveness of the pest. Both these techniques could be done if enough effort and thought is put into them. Biotechnology has been increasing tremendously lately and it seems it will be a big part of agriculture in the near future.
It looks like there is going to be a decline in the use of pesticides. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, pesticides create many environmental problems such as pest resistance, water pollution etc. and with the decrease use, it will benefit the environment. But without pesticides we could not produce certain crops economically or meet present world food demands. Pesticides create increase in profits and in production and eliminate unwanted pests.
These are the reasons that motivate farmers to keep using pesticides. So the answer to that question can go either way. The Philippines shows how they are trying to decrease the use of pesticides but yet the use of them keeps increasing. It seems though we are headed towards the elimination of pesticides and an increase in biotechnology. All of this suggests that it is essential that careful assessment be made to evaluate the benefits and risks of pesticides.
Cooley, Daniel. 1995. Estimating the risks and Benefits of Pesticides Considering the Agroecosystems and Integrated Pest Management in the Use of EBCD Fungicides on Apples, in Environmental Pollution. Great Britain, Elsevier Science Publishers, pp. 315 - 320. Crissman, Charles. 1998. Economic, Environmental, and Health Tradeoffs in Agriculture. Norwell, Massachusetts, Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Davis, Corazon. 1993. Environmental Concerns About Pesticide Use in Philippine Agriculture, in The Science of the Total Environment. Amsterdam, Elsevier Science Publishers, pp. 293 - 304. Dinham, Barbara. 1993. The Pesticide Hazard. Highlands, New Jersey, Zed Books Publishers.
Hussey, N. W. 1985. History of Biological Control in Protected Culture. Poole, Dorset, Blandford Press. Keen, N. 1992.
Pesticides. New York, New York, Dickinson Publishers. Pimentel, David. 1993. Environmental and Economic Effects of reducing Pesticide Use in Agriculture, in Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment. Amsterdam, Elsevier Science Publishers, pp. 273 - 288. Pingali, Prabhu and Roger, Pierre. 1995.
Impact of Pesticides on Farmer Health and the Rice Environment. Norwell, Massachusetts, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Reuveni, Reuven. 1995. Novel Approaches to Integrated Pest Management. Haifa, Israel, Lewis Publishers. Stevens, William. 1994.
Impact of Pesticides on Farmer Health. Oxford, Oxford Bibliography:
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