and Integrated Pest Management - part - usaid

PESTICIDE RESIDUE CONTROL AND MONITORING
IN INDONESIA
M. Sockardi
Directorate of Food Crop Protection
Jalan Aup, Pasar Minggu, Jakarta, Indonesia
Pesticides are commonly used in crop production in Indonesia, especially in
areas where endemic pests are a problem. Since Indonesian farmers gencrally
find pesticides to be effective against crop pests, easy to apply, and not too
costly, many of them consider pesticide use the best way to solve their pest
problems. Con.lulen tly, farmers tend to use pesticides on any crop which is
likely to be attacked by pests. This situation has brought about an increase in
pesticide use in agriculture, fishery, forestry, public health, anrd households.
Because of the to-ic nature of most pesticides, the increasing use of
pesticides has given rise to a concern for the undesirable side effects of pesticides
on human health and the environment. A number of accidental poisoning cases
have been reported to occur during storage, transportation, dilution, and
application of pesticides. Other cascs of animal intoxication and environmental
pollution have also been attributed to imrproper handling and injudicious use of
pesticides.
Realizing that pesticide use is indispensable to agriculture, arid recognizing
the potential hazards of pesticides to man and the environment, the government
of Indonesia introduced the Pesticide Act of 1973 to regulate Ihe use of
pesticides. The government has taken steps, complementary to the Act, to
deveiop good practices in pesticide management with a view to promoting safety
and efficiency in peslicide use. One important aspect of pesticide safety is the
presence of residues in food and tile environment. In recent years, several
government agencies have initiated efforts and studies to control residues. This
paper deals with the efforts and siudies carried out by some agencies in the
Ministry of Agriculture.
PESTICIDEW RE(;ISTRATION ANI) RESII)UE, TRIALS
The Pesticide Act of 1973 governs the distribution, storage.. and use of
pesticides. It is :;Iti platecI il tihe Act that all pesticides shall be registered with
the Minister of Agriculture, and only those that are :appro,,ed for their inteaded
purposes may be distributed.
The provisions of the Act empower the Minister of Agriculture to control
pesticide use through a registration scheme and an inspection system (Directorate
of Food Crop Protection 1985a). The Act also provides for the control of all
matters of public health within the jurisdiction of tile Minister of Public Health.
This implies that the protection of consumers from the hazards of pesticide
residues in food is the responsibility of the Minister of Public Health.