'Excess use of chemical pesticides causing huge damage to ecology in coastal Andhra'

The chirping of sparrows seems to be disappearing, only few frogs are to be seen and the number of crows is fast dwindling in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Also, the baya, ducks and pigeons are soon likely to join the growing list. Indiscriminate and excessive use of chemical pesticides by the farmers in recent years has damaged the ecology of soil and water and disturbed the eco-balance, thereby throwing a number of friends of the farmers "� including birds, a score of microbes, earthworm, dragonflies, damselflies, water bugs and the black dongrow into the list of endangered species in the region.

"The farmers in Andhra Pradesh are using one-third of the pesticides manufactured in the country. This has proved detrimental to the existence of birds and other animal species. The farmers did not heed repeated appeals made by the scientists to adopt integrated pesticide management (IPM) methods and crop rotation," A Thirupati Reddy, associate director (research), Lam Farm, Acharya Ranga Agricultural University's Regional Agricultural Research Station (Krishna-Guntur zone), told Business Standard.

The Lam research station covers Krishna, Guntur and West Godavari districts, and a part of Khammam, East Godavari and Nalgonda districts.

"A number of harmful organic pollutants such as synthetic pyrethroids have found persistent use in the state. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka consume 65 per cent of the pesticides produced in the country. The Andhra farmers spray 45 per cent of the pesticides they have purchased on cotton, 17 per cent pesticides on paddy and 8.5 per cent pesticides on horticulture crops. The use of pesticides by them has been increasing every year at an alarming rate of two to five per cent," he said.

"The Andhra farmers have been trapped in this vicious circle, damaging soil health and turning it into a chemical mine. They are contributing to the overall increase in the use of pesticides in the country on a large scale. About 82,500 tonnes of pesticides were sprayed on crops in 1997-98 and 90,100 tonnes in 1998-99, representing an increase of 8.4 per cent, and 1,05,417 tonnes in 1999-2000 -- an increase of 17 per cent," Reddy said.

Despite monitoring by three main committees and two expert panels, including the Central Insecticide Lab, the Registration Committee, the Supreme Court Committee and the Inter-Ministerial Committee, the use of pesticides had been going up dangerously.

However, India used only three per cent of the pesticides produced in the world. When compared with other developed Asian countries, India uses least quantity of pesticides. While Indian farmers use 0.5 kg per hectare, Taiwanese farmers use 17 kg per hectare, Japanese use 12 kg per hectare and Korean farmers use 6.6 kg per hectare," he informed.

"India has a capacity to manufacture 1,62,757 tonnes of pesticides. It exports pesticides worth Rs 1,000 crore and imports pesticides worth Rs 150 crore. Companies manufacture 93 pesticides in the country and most of them have found favour with the Andhra farmers. If one farmer has sprayed a new pesticide, his neighbour not only blindly imitates him but also starts using more of the product. This is how the pest menace is spreading in the villages," Reddy pointed out.

"Andhra Pradesh is going the way of Punjab where 25 per cent of the population are diabetics due to the absence of zinc in foodgrains. Mass mechanisation of agriculture has kept farmers in that state away from physical work. Absence of zinc, a constituent of insulin, in food had affected them. But the farmers in Andhra Pradesh or Punjab cannot do away with the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides overnight. It takes some years to phase out their use. Firstly, the farmers should take to crop rotation, supply of micronutrients to crops, judicious use of badly-needed chemical fertilisers and pesticides along with green manure and biopesticides," he said.