Mitigation Factors to Reduce Farmers’ Reliance to Toxic Pesticides

Abstract

The consumption of systemic pesticides is increasing worldwide and more than 2.7million tons of active ingredients are currently being used. In developed countries such as the US, there is a downward trend in the consumption of pesticides. In fact, the United States saw an 11% decrease in the use of conventional pesticides from 1977 to 2007, whereas there was a 10% increase in the use of conventional pesticides in developing countries including Brazil, India, China and subsaharan Africa during the same period. Developing countries only consume about 25% of the world pesticides; however, 99% of deaths due to pesticide-related accidents occur in these countries including Africa, SE Asia, Central America and the Caribbean.