PESTICIDE USE, ITS IMPACT ON CROP PRODUCTION AND EVALUATION OF IPM TECHNOLOGIES IN BANGLADESH

Pesticides are generally sold at a price lower than MRP, but in some cases during peak period they are sold higher than MRP. More than one-half of farmers use recommended quantity of pesticides. Almost all farmers use pesticides after seeing pest/disease in the field. Majority of them cover their face during pesticide application. Among all crops, comparatively more pesticides are applied for vegetables crops. Majority of farmers believe that pesticide application pollute water & air and they are harmful to farm labour. The study shows that farmers use excess pesticides for all crops except Banana (sagar) and Mango. Non-IPM farmers apply much higher amount of pesticides than IPM farmers. Only IPM trained farmers know and use IPM technologies. Apart from pesticide application, majority of trained farmers are aware and use crop rotation and control by hand methods. In contrast, a few of them use cultural and biological methods. Although they are interested to use pest resistance seeds, they cannot use those because of non-availability of seeds. In case of using recommended doses of pesticides, IPM and nonIPM farmers differ significantly. Comparatively more IPM farmers express their view that pesticide application pollutes air as well as crop. Finally, this study reveals that training on IPM encouraged farmers to adopt non-traditional pest control methods