Global Policy Forum

By Stephanie Williamson

Pesticide use in Africa has increased dramatically in recent years, despite the escalating costs and the fact that they are becoming less effective. This is creating a dependency on pesticides amongst farmers, threatening food safety, causing health risks, deepening the inequality between rich and poor farmers and creating environmental problems. Alternative methods of pest control are needed if these damaging social and environmental impacts are to be reduced.

Research from the UK-based Pesticide Action Network (PAN) describes an alarming pattern of pesticide use among farmers in Senegal, Benin, Ethiopia and Ghana. Governments and development agencies have encouraged the use of pesticides to increase agricultural output, and farmers are spending increasing amounts of money on them. Their impact on the yield and quality of crops is decreasing, however. Farmers often use more pesticide than is cost-effective, under pressure to compete with other producers. Those who cannot afford pesticides at all are unable to grow the more profitable crops that rely on agricultural chemicals, widening the gap between rich and poor farmers.

African pesticide use may still be small – only two per cent of the total amount used globally – but the ways in which they are used are causing serious environmental and health problems. Safety equipment is rarely used, storage methods are unsafe, and the instructions for use are not always understood. Many of the chemicals used are considered highly toxic by the World Health Organisation, and contaminated crops, beer, vegetables, fish and bushmeat cause serious food poisoning in both people and livestock. Pesticide use could even be making problems worse by killing the predators of insects (through poisoning) and increasing resistance to the chemicals in pest species.

The research shows that:

· Cotton farmers in a Senegalese village blame pesticides for many problems –poisonings, suicides, increased production costs and debts.

· Even though farmers in Benin now spray their cabbages twelve to twenty times a season – compared with only three sprays ten years ago – they are seeing smaller returns.

· While incomes for cotton farmers in Benin remained the same, spending on pesticides increased by eighty per cent between 2000 and 2001.

· Ethiopian farmers growing improved maize species got into debt due to increased spending on seeds and pesticides to fight weevils, forcing many to sell their livestock.

· Some Ethiopian farmers tried to use pesticides to treat head lice and bedbugs, and even to cure open wounds, with fatal results.

The research urges donors and governments to reconsider their support of pesticides, and to listen to the experiences of smallholders about the problems they cause. They need to improve communication with health services, non-governmental organisations and farmer's groups to obtain more data on the most problematic products and dangerous practices.

Among the recommendations are:

· phasing out the distribution of free and subsidised pesticides

· raising awareness among consumers, farmers and health professionals of the dangers of pesticides and how to recognise poisoning symptoms

· monitoring pesticide residues in food for humans and livestock

· promoting integrated pest management (IPM) as an alternative, through setting comprehensive IPM policy, training farmers, and encouraging the exchange of information between farmers

· approving non-chemical pest management products and making sure they are not taxed unfairly

· working with communities to monitor the impacts of pesticides on animals, plants, soil and water.

Pesticides were considered to be an essential element of increasing food production in Africa. However, experience has shown that they are causing more problems than they solve. It is necessary to pursue alternative methods of pest control to prevent the situation getting worse for farmers and communities in this region.