By Chinyere Anyanwu
Nigerian farmers have been advised to exercise caution when administering pesticides on crops for healthy living and preservation of the environment.
Director at Heinrich Boll Foundation Nigeria, Mr. Jochen Luckscheiter, made the call at a workshop for social media influencers/journalists on the Nigeria Pesticide Atlas. The event was held at Agro Forestry Project Farm in Kwali area of Abuja.
Pesticides are applied to prevent yield losses in farming system but industry experts have, however, raised concerns on excessive use of the chemicals, which they say now create problems of health and soil degradation that are harmful to the ecosystem.
The workshop was organised to increase public awareness on the impact of high use of toxic pesticides by farmers in the agricultural sector.
Luckscheiter stressed the need to reduce the quantity of pesticides used in farming, adding that farms should rely more on organic input to increase productivity.
“You can increase crop productivity without using pesticides and artificial fertiliser,” he said, adding that, “there is lots of knowledge out there that doesn’t rely on artificial input to increase productivity.”
Luckscheiter said a significant number of pesticides are no longer authorised or are banned in the European Union (EU) due to their harmful effects on health and the ecosystem.
He, therefore, cautioned farmers on the safe use of pesticides, stressing that it was highly dangerous to health, though it was aimed at empowering workers on farm production while in active service.
For his part, the Executive Director of Chen Education and Development Empowerment (CEDE), Anaele Cynthia, said there was need to enlighten Nigerians on the dangerous effect of hazardous pesticides imported into the country. Cynthia said the toxic chemical contents in pesticides have increased from four to 40 per cent with adverse effects on the soil and environment.
According to her, there is need to enact stiffer laws to prohibit use of toxic and hazardous pesticides by farmers to ensure healthy living and safer farming system in the country.
She stressed the need for the government and stakeholders to be concerned about the health of farmers and consumers of their produce, saying, “pesticides may cause acute and variety of adverse health effects.”
Also, Chief Executive/Chief Farmer of Be the Help Foundation Agro Forestry Project, Mr. Samuel Robert-Kwasari, said there was need to stop the use of pesticides and revert to the traditional system of farming.
Robert-Kwasari said as farmers struggle to fight the pests, it has emerged that some pesticides are not effective, while other crops suffer adverse effects and soil degradation on the farm.