An Analysis of Pesticide Use for Rice Pest Management in Bangladesh

The so-called Green Revolution package was introduced into Bangladesh agriculture system in mid 1960s. It promised to increase production of cereal crops, particularly rice by the introduction of HYV seeds, application of chemical fertilizer and pesticide, and irrigation. HYVs rice has contributed signifi-cantly to the progress towards the food self sufficiency in Bangladesh on the contrary increased to the environmental degradation due to the intensive use of agrochemical and other modern technology. The use of pesticide has been increased 400 % per acre and its cost increased 600 % during the last couple of decades. Between 1985 and 1990 the sales of pesticide became double. At present, 84 pesticides active ingredients belonging to 242 trade names have been registered in Bangladesh. Out of the total pesticide use, over 80 % are used in rice fields. The rapid increase of pesticide use is causing detrimental effect on environment and health of farm workers and consumers. Pesticides are contaminating ground and sur-face water, which is causing depletion of inland fishing resources and ecosystem. Therefore, the present study evaluates the level of farmers ' pesticide use practiced to rice pest control, their knowledge and per-ception of the impact of pesticides on environment. A questionnaire survey has been conducted to col-lect the data from the farmers. Data have been collected from 86 rice farmers of Bangladesh. The stud