Key words: pesticide use, navigation system, on-site warning system, GAP A NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR APPROPRIATE PESTICIDE USE AND FOOD SAFETY

To prevent the occurrence of pesticide misapplication, it is necessary to establish support systems for appropriate pesticide use by applying information technology (IT) based on prior risk management. This paper introduces the concept of the Navigation System for Appropriate Pesticide Use (Nouyaku-navi), the state of development of the system, functions of the latest system and the results of the demonstration experiment. The latest Nouyaku-navi comprises various functions, as follows: support functions for creating guidelines on pest control, support functions for creating pesticide use plans, judgment functions for the pesticide use plans, on-site warning functions for pesticide application and functions for on-site registration of pesticide application records. Users of the system can create pesticide use plans by means of a personal computer and easily judge their propriety using the Nouyaku-navi judgment server. Also, users can easily use a cellular phone to determine the propriety of pesticide application from farming fields or agrochemical storage lockers just before the application. If the plan has no problem, data on the pesticide application can be simultaneously registered on the system as a pesticide application record. Also discussed are issues on the Nouyaku-navi and its relationship with good agricultural practice (GAP) and traceability systems