PESTICIDES AND INDIAN AGRICULTURE- A REVIEW

Globally more than half of the pesticides are utilized in Asia. India stands 12th in pesticide use globally and 3rd in Asia after China and Turkey. In present study, the data of different types of pesticides, pesticide use pattern and detailed pesticide consumption of the India and world were collected, organized and summarized. Agriculture is the most important sector of the Indian economy providing employment and livelihood to nearly 70% of the total population. And pesticides are an integral part of modern agriculture. Insecticides, fungicides and herbicides are commonly used for pest control in agriculture. However, insecticides form the highest share in total pesticide use in India. India share only1% of the global pesticide use. India has utilized around 58160 tonnes of pesticide in 2018. Per hectare application rate of pesticide was 0.31 kg in 2017. Despite a low per hectare use of pesticides in India, their injudicious use has led to the presence of residues in both biotic and abiotic sections of the environment. The advance research and development in the field of bio-pesticides applications greatly reduce the environmental pollution caused by the chemical synthetic insecticides residues and promotes sustainable development of agriculture. In India numerous bio-pesticides presently being developed may be exceptional replacements to chemical pesticides. There are many eco-friendly plant based and microbial bio-pesticides available in the market. Bio-pesticides consumption is only 8% in India. For sustainable agricultural development and to protect environment from adverse effect of chemical pesticides, formulation and utilization of bio-pesticides should be prompted.