Due to the increased use of pesticides by farmers to grow the crops, 21 percent of the total 51 agricultural foods contaminated with pesticides, contain the pesticide residue more than the maximum residue limit, mentioned by Indian Government.
According to the data, India produces about 85,000 tonnes of pesticides every year. Recently government has banned usage of a pesticide called endosulfan, but there are many other pesticides which are being used. For example, pesticide known as monocrotophos, which is banned for vegetables, but can be used for other crops, is being used for vegetables also due to the ignorance of farmers.
It is found that due to the excessive use of pesticides, the chemicals enter in to the fruits and vegetables and also develop resistance in pests and geno toxicity in crops. There are many vegetables which are highly prone to the pest infection. The most commonly used vegetables, which are highly infected by pesticides, are lady’s finger, tomatoes, cabbage, green leafy vegetables and brinjal. For all the above crops the pesticides are used before and after harvesting. Lady’s finger is supposed to be sold in the markets only after few weeks after harvesting, but farmers with great hurry to sell their stock, sell them soon after harvesting.
Most of the farmers are ignorant of good agricultural practices. They are mostly reluctant to keep the keep the crops till the safe period. Most of the farmers are ignorant of the recommended amount of pesticides for each crop, therefore, in order to get higher, quicker and better yield, they are using high amounts of pesticides.
Source: Deccan chronicle