Dr Ramesh Kumar Thusoo
India that was a food deficient country up to mid sixties, moved to food surplus country after green revolution. As a matter of fact India had subsistence agriculture which was labour intensive and family labour was main source of labour .The new Technology like Tractorization and use of weedicides ,pesticide have proved to be major boost of Agriculture , but this technology has lead to crises in agriculture . The use of chemical fertilizers and insecticides has lead to toxicity in the crop uptake and thus food articles has become adulterated and in turn spreads havoc on the lives of common people The production and productivity of wheat and paddy have increased considerably and respose of other crops to the up take in irrigated conditions has increased tremendously . This new technology of using chemicals fertilizers, high yielding varieties, irrigation facility ,has increased the buffer stock of the country and the news programes of food security is only viable because of increased production .With this employment had also increased because in initial period it was labour enhancing as cropped area got increased .The State like Punjab is under crises due to un sustainable technology over machination, mono culture etc (Singh 2000). The effect of mechanization and weedicides was very strong in paddy and wheat .The earlier agriculture was more labour requiring which led to growth in agriculture and thus components of technology said to be land augmenting and labour intensive resulted in high production and employment also had increased but the modern technology led to use of un balanced fertilizers and pesticides which has increased to many folds during the last two decades. There are various empirical evidences and researches where in it has been proved that there was increase in pesticides use despite no increase in yield .
In case of chemical use (insecticides ,Herbicides) in all states like Punjab Uttar Pradesh, west Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Assam which are major paddy growing states there was not increase in yield but increase in input use in 1999-20000 . In 1981-82 the use of chemicals used in Punjab Uttar Pradesh, west Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Assam it was 119.36, 1.04,6.70,42.70 ,1.10 Rs/ha in the respective states where as it further increased to 257.45,14.49,58.26,221.30,2.21 Rs /ha . in 2000 at constant prices of 1981-82, during the recent decade it was further increased showing a drastic change in chemical use in paddy growing . The technological effect on paddy growing was positive but it has also increased the aliments like residual effects of pesticides and herbicides in the grain which needs to be corrected through proper guidance to farmers which is possible through positive role of technical human resource utilization, which is being ignored through all these years. The use of huge chemicals in use of agriculture includes Herbicides, Algecides, Avicides, Bactericides, Fungicides Insecticides Bactericides Nematicides Rodenticides Virucides.
But by not using Pesticides reduce crop yields by about 10% and may result in rise of food prices, loss of jobs and an increase in world hunger . The negative aspect of these chemicals have adverse health effects ranging from simple irritation of the skin and eyes to those severe effects such as affecting nervous systems causing reproductive problems and also causing Carcogenic problems. The World Health Organization and the UN Environmental Programme estimates that each year 3 million workers in agriculture in the developing world experience severe poisoning from pesticides about 18000 of whom die. Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% herbicides reach destination other than their target species including non target species air water and soil. Pesticides drift occurs when pesticides suspended in the air as particles are carried by wind to other areas potentially contaminating them.
Pesticides that evaporate into the atmosphere at relatively high temperature can be carried considerably to distances thousands of kilometers by the wind to an area of lower temperature where they condense and are carried back to the ground in rain or snow. There are concerns to curb such problems in Agriculture if every body cooperates by using low quantity of pesticides and chemicals and must be fully controlled for sale and use through strict Government agencies only . In Europe recently legislation has been approved banning the use of highly toxic pesticides including that are carcogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction or are endocrine disrupting and that are persistent biocumalative . Integrated pest management is becoming widespread and has been used with success in countries like Indonesia, China, Bangladesh, US , Australia and Mexico but unfortunately long thesis and articles have been already written and information regarding this lies within the government agencies but timely action and implementation is far away yet .
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