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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Farmers Shouldn't Have to Die Before the Government Addresses Rampant Pesticide Misuse -Joe Hill

Farmers Shouldn't Have to Die Before the Government Addresses Rampant Pesticide Misuse -Joe Hill

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published Published on Oct 17, 2017   modified Modified on Oct 17, 2017
-TheWire.in

A recent study in Jharkhand showed that farmers are unaware of how to correctly use different chemicals and do not use any protective gear during the process.

The deaths and hospitalisation of farmers in Maharashtra raises to the forefront the question of state government culpability for its negligence in regulating the pesticide sector. The National Human Rights Commission has observed that most farmers in the country are not adequately literate and “are relying on the government agencies for the safe use of agricultural products and the ancillary techniques”. This is not 100% correct. In many states, the government is not playing this role, and instead farmers are relying on the information provided to them by retailers and, in some cases, company salesmen.

Though cotton is not grown in Jharkhand on any significant scale, cotton-specific insecticides are widely sold by wholesalers in Ranchi and retailers in districts, blocks and villages across the state. As part of a soon-to-be-released study conducted in 2017 in several Indian states by Pesticide Action Network (PAN) India, the Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development (SPWD) undertook a qualitative study of pesticide use by 25 farmers in Bero block, Ranchi district. Bero is part of Jharkhand’s major vegetable-growing belt, supplying fresh produce to cities like Ranchi and Kolkata. It has the longest experience with chemical-input farming in the state.

During the study, it became clear that most farmers do not know the names of the pesticides they use; therefore, the study relied on asking farmers to show the pesticide bottles and packets kept at their homes. While preparing and applying pesticides on their crops, none of the interviewed farmers use protective gear such as face masks or gloves. Several farmers and farm labourers said that they mix the pesticides and water with their bare hands. One labourer showed injuries to his arm and leg that he received while spraying pesticides without protective gear.

The 25 sampled farmers were found to have used a total of 42 insecticides, eight herbicides and seven fungicides. Of these, just four of the insecticides, three of the herbicides and one of the fungicides were legally used by the farmers. Thus, 38 insecticides, five herbicides and six fungicides are being illegally used for non-approved uses – which means they were applied to crops for which approval is not given by the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC), government of India.

Of the 38 insecticides illegally used, six are approved for use on cotton only. This is a shocking revelation because in the Bero block, cotton is not grown. Acephate 50% + Imidacloprid 1.8% SP, sold under the trade name Lancer Gold, is manufactured by the multinational United Phosphorus Limited. Released in 2006 to be used on cotton, with a waiting period of 40 days from application to harvest, it has been applied to chilli in Bero by one of the study’s sampled farmers. Alphacypermethrin 10% EC, sold under the brand name Alpha Plus by the manufacturer Anu Products Ltd, has been used by two of the farmers on crops like bodi (long beans), bottle gourd, chilli and on mango trees, though it is approved for use only on cotton with a waiting period of seven days.

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TheWire.in, 16 October, 2017, https://thewire.in/187597/farmers-shouldnt-die-government-addresses-rampant-pesticide-misuse/


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