Impact Of Pesticides Use In Agriculture: Their Benefits And Hazards
Pesticides are the chemical substances that target certain unwanted organisms. Pesticides are of various types. They are a fungicide, insecticide, herbicide, rodenticide, and nematicide. Chemicals that are successful in controlling pests are organophosphate, organochlorine, and carbamates.
Like the two sides of a coin, pesticides also have benefits and hazards. They are as follows:
Benefits of Pesticides on Farming
Improves productivity of your crop
I have successfully prevented the loss of my crops.
Weed reduces the yield of crops by 37 to 79%. Weeds infestation occurs in the early stage of crop production. Herbicides are used to kill the weeds. Pesticides are must for effective and economical weed control.
2. Pesticides improve the quality of your food
The quality of food improves drastically with the use of pesticides. Pesticide kills the pests and worms from the fruits and vegetables. Fleas are the tiny creatures that can infect your food. To get rid of these fleas, best flea bomb must be used.This is the quick and easy way to get rid of these pests.
3. Eradication of pests that pose a threat to forest trees
There are certain species of the pest like loopers, budworms that kill thousands of trees. There are many insecticides that control these pests in forests and agricultural settings. Pesticides and herbicides, when used in right proportions, results in higher yields from small size land. This prevents the forest land from being used for growing crops. Today a small land can produce double yield with the application of pesticides.
4. Control the price of commodities
Pesticides control the price of food and clothes. They eliminate predators that destroy crops. Without the use of pesticides, crops will get infested and destroyed. Loss of crops like corn or cotton can result in an increase of the cost. You can purchase food and clothes at a reasonable price with the use of pesticides.
Yes, we have discussed the benefits of using pesticides; however, it is equally important to ensure that you know the various hazards that are associated with these chemicals.
Hazards of Pesticides
Direct impact on human beings
These chemicals result in potential health risk to human and other living organisms. It results in death and chronic diseases due to the poisoning of pesticide. Risk group includes production workers, sprayers, loaders and agricultural farm workers. These pesticides pollute the environment in which you are living. Air, lakes, earth, and oceans get polluted from these harmful chemicals. Fishes and the birds are badly affected by these pesticides.
These chemicals can agonize natural hormones in your body. It can cause bad health effects like hormone disruption, reproductive abnormalities, and cancer. It can also cause a headache, vomiting, fatigue, irritation of skin and eyes. Pests like fleas and bugs can cause spots or bites on your body.
P.S. Flea bites V/s. Bed bugs bites: Flea bites are usually found on lower half of the body like elbow or knee. Bed bug bites are found in upper part of the body like face, arms, and neck.
2. Impact on food commodities
Pesticide can cause contamination in your food stuff. The scientific studies have shown the presence of pesticide in fruits and vegetables. Apple, tomato, grapes, strawberries, and lettuce are worst affected. These residues of pesticide pose a risk to your health. These chemicals can result in loss of nutritional value of the crops.
We must consume the organic fruits and vegetables. For example, carrots; there are various benefits of organic carrot juice. It contains less pesticide and high in nutrient value.
3. Impact on Environment
These pesticides can contaminate water, soil, air, and other vegetation. Pesticides are toxic to many organisms like birds, fish, and other plants. They can cause harm to organisms and non-target plants.
4. Contamination of water
When you treat plants and soil with pesticide, it runs off and reaches surface water. Research studies have found the pesticides in the samples from major rivers. The contamination of ground water is a worldwide problem. Samples taken from hand pumps are found to be contaminated from organochlorine.
5. Contamination of soil
Many organochlorine pesticides cause contamination in soil. Soil contamination results in a decline in beneficial microorganisms. It results in the loss of fertility of the soil. The soil gets degraded in quality if the bacteria and fungi are lost. Soil loses the ability to hold the nutrients if pesticides are used for longer period.
6. Air pollution
Pesticide spray can result in the air to get contaminated. The particles of pesticides get trapped in the air. These particles come along with the rain on the earth. Many samples of snow, fog, and rain have shown the evidence of the presence of pesticides. The accumulation of these harmful chemicals results in lung related illness. You can also feel breathing problems.
7. Non-target organisms
Traces of contaminates are found in non-target organisms in residing locations. They can cause toxicity in you or your pets.
The use of the pesticide can improve the production and quality of crops. But its effects are also harmful. We need to start using the safer alternatives to pesticides. I hope that this information will increase your knowledge about the pesticides.
Author’s Bio:
Emily Taylor is the face behind the gardening website Lovebackyard.com and this is a bit of copy about her. Being in her thirties, Emily’s biggest passions are gardening and blogging. She loves cooking the food she grows, learning and trying new things such as setting up a mole trap. You can check out how to do it here.
