As Kerala grapples with the spectre of poisoned vegetables from across its borders, use of chemical pesticides in the State has peaked.
Figures from the Department of Agriculture paint a grim picture. Pesticide consumption in the State rose to 1,173.62 tonnes (technical grade) during 2013-14 against 694.91 tonnes during 2012-13, even though the State’s declared aim is to switch to wholly organic agriculture by 2016.
The latest numbers show that Kerala’s pesticide consumption nearly doubled from 605.03 tonnes during 2011-12 even though the gross sown area in the State has more or less stagnated around 26 lakh hectares.
Sources claimed that about 75 per cent of the pesticides being used in the State belonged to the Yellow category, meaning that the State was deploying the most toxic of the permitted categories.
The Red category pesticides have been banned in the State though allegations persist that the pesticides are freely available even now.
Among pesticides, weedicides have come to be used in large quantities over the three years in review.
“Shortage and high cost of labour are forcing farmers and even householders to resort to the use of weedicides,” said an official of the Department of Agriculture.
The use of weedicides rose from 27.26 tonnes during 2011-12 to 140.36 tonnes during 2013-14. Their use dipped to 22.45 tonnes during 2012-13.
“With increasing incidence of life-threatening diseases in the State being linked to pesticide residues in agricultural produce, Kerala is taking too big a risk,” sources said.
Kerala Agricultural University’s Director of Extension P.V. Balachandran, however, said that the use of chemical pesticides in food crops in the State had come down drastically. He said that eco-friendly methods, including bio-controls, had found acceptance among farmers in the State.
The peak in pesticide consumption could be because of the increasing use of such chemicals in non-food crops, he added.
Sources in the Agriculture Department said costs of new pesticides were prohibitive and farmers tended to use cheaper pesticides such as lambdacyhalothrin, quinalphos, cypermethrin, fenvalarate and glyphosate, which is a widely-used weedicide.
A senior official of the Department of Agriculture too pointed to the increasing tendency among farmers in the State to use the safer Green category pesticides.
Data circulated at a recent meeting of officials from various departments that discussed the issue of pesticide residue in vegetables showed that Kerala consumed 65 tonnes of the insecticide chlorpyriphos between 2011-12 and 2013-14.
Use of quinalphos, another insecticide, during the same period was 59 tonnes. The figures also said that during the same period, 52 tonnes of new pesticide, chlorantraniliprole (Green category), was used.
