Synopsis of Use and Economic Value of Pesticides and Chances for ...

E. Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
IPM has been started in the HKR countries since several years through DOPP.
However, the impact is not very encouraging. It is mainly due to low emphasis on IPM
from the respective governments. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2000)
has prepared guidelines for IPM in some crops, for example, vegetables. The DOA of
HMG/N also has got some assistance from FAO for rice and vegetable IPM. The
achievements made so far in Nepal are as follows:
HMG/Nepal
a) Season-long (one cropping season) training of trainers (officer level) (No.) : 142
b) Total IPM Farmer Field Schools (No.) : 221
c) Season-long training of rice farmers (No.) : 5525
(Source: DOPP)
CEAPRED
a) Season-long training of vegetable farmers (No.) : 551
b) Total IPM Farmer Field Schools (No.) : 23
4.2 Increase the Level of Awareness of Farmers and General Public
Majority of the farmers in the HKR countries are illiterate. Similarly the general public is
ignorant about the impact of pesticides on the environment and the human health. Hence
awareness of both the farmers as well as the general public should be raised on pesticide
issues.
The plant protection personnel of government agencies involved in the field should be
increased both in number as well as quality.
4.3 Strengthen Pest and Pesticide Research
There is still a lot to be studied on the bioecology of various pests and their suppression
methods in the HKR. The manpower involved in this area is limited. Hence, their number
and quality needs to be increased.
4.4 Enforcement of Pesticide Acts
Most of the countries in the HKR have Pesticide Acts (Table 9). But there are complains
against their poor enforcement. Examples can be cited from Nepal and India where most
of the pesticides belonging to chlorinated hydrocarbons (for example, DDT, BHC) have
been banned by law, but these materials are freely available in the market and used by the
people. Hence, governments of these countries should give proper attention in this area.
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Significant amount of crop loss (in the field as well as storage) occurs every year due to
various pests in the HKR countries. Pesticides have been used in this region as a major
weapon to suppress the pests since the green revolution period. They are easily available
at a relatively cheaper price and have been found to be economical in most instances.
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