BAITADI, March 30: Tragedy had struck in Trilok Singh Saud's family of Mahakali-5 of Baitadi district around eight months ago. His five-year-old son, Pankaj, and two-year-old daughter, Kalawati, died after unknowingly consuming pesticide when their parents weren't at home. They died on the way while being taken to a hospital.
These types of incidents are increasingly becoming common of late. Adults carelessly place pesticides within the reach of children. Also, they throw used pesticide containers in open areas irresponsibly. Such negligence is giving rise to serious hazards.
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Despite such reports, monitoring of the usage of pesticides by authorities is rare in the district. District Agriculture Development Office (DADO), Baitadi, who is responsible for monitoring the usage, has not taken any steps to control the reckless use of harmful chemicals.
However, Toya Nath Joshi, plant protection officer (PPO) of DADO, claimed that they are preparing to form a team to investigate the matter. "We have received some information regarding unscientific usage of pesticides in some places," said Joshi. "We'll look into the matter as soon as the team is formed," he added.
According to the DADO, Baitadi, the most commonly used pesticides in the district are insecticide, fungicide and rodenticide. Although the usage of pesticides is comparatively less in the district, its popularity is growing very rapidly as the farmers are increasingly using it to control pests and raise their crops faster.
There are 16 agro-veterinary shops in the district and 30 more are in the process of obtaining permits. Farmers prefer to go to these shops instead of using natural fertilizers. As none of these shops supply natural fertilizers, there has been drastic growth in the use of pesticides.
Weak rules and lax monitoring allows people to become a pesticide seller after just three days of training. They sell pesticides to locals without proper knowledge. As a result, farmers use pesticides in wrong quantity, often more than required, to control pests.
Most of the pesticides are imported from India due the district's open border with the neighboring country. Especially, locals of Swarad, which is a highly undeveloped area, are fully dependent on the imports of food items and other items of daily necessities. "I buy most of my household necessities like vegetables and pesticides from India," said a local Janaki Chand. Agricultural technicians have been warning against the danger of illegally imported pesticides.
"Excessive use of pesticides increases the risk of the harmful chemicals seeping into groundwater or rivers, which adversely affect the wildlife as well as aquatic flora and fauna," said PPO Joshi. "We have also found unhealthy amount of pesticides in vegetables, crops and even in cow's milk," he added.
According to Kamalesh Biwari, senior Agriculture Development Officer, farmers should themselves be aware about the harmful effects caused by excessive use of pesticides. "Instead of taking advice from agricultural technicians, farmers themselves act like technicians," said Biwari. "As pesticides are poisons and not medicines, stakeholders including farmers and sellers among others should be aware and use it responsibly," he added.
According to physicians, the eating fruits and vegetable grown using excessive pesticides cause many health hazards. It affects human digestive system, blood, liver, heart and eyes, among others.
There are various alternatives to using pesticides which is available locally. However, no organizations have taken initiatives at present to spread awareness to the local farmers.
