The Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) Wayanad district committee has urged the government to take stringent measures to curb the use of banned pesticides in the district.
Though the Red category pesticides such as Phorate, Thimet and Furadan and herbicides including Gramaxon were banned in the State nearly five years ago, their application is increasing in plantations, particularly in plantain groves, in the district as they are easily available at shops in the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border areas.
Pesticides available in T.N.
The pesticides are available in Tamil Nadu and there are no government agencies at the border check-posts to monitor their transportation. The farmers usually apply the available chemicals in high dosages without taking any precautions. It poses health hazards not only to the farmers but also to people in the nearby areas.
A meeting of the committee asked the government to organise awareness programmes among the farmers.
The committee also raised the demands including modification of school curriculum to enrol mole tribal children and measures to stop encroachment on the Thamarassery ghat section of the Kozhikode-Mysore National Highway 212. P. Suresh Babu, district president, presided over the meeting.
