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Abstract

Pesticides have substantially contributed for controlling of pests and increasing crop yields. But over the years there is growing concern about indiscriminate use of pesticides in agriculture. This paper attempts to understand the farmers’ knowledge and perceptions of pests and pesticide use in vegetable cultivation and analyzes the pesticide use practices and the intensity of pesticide use in vegetable cultivation. The result shows that on an average 41 per cent of the farmers were aware about pesticide hazards in vegetable cultivation. Most of the farmers (88 per cent) perceived that frequency of insects and disease infestation has increased over the past 10 years. It was also observed that farmers have not followed adequate safety measures regarding pesticide application. The high pesticide use cost was observed in vegetables especially in tomato and brinjal and most of the pesticides belonged to high and moderate risk chemicals. Increasing farmers’ awareness of pesticide hazards to the environment and promotion of alternative pest management strategies such as use of bio-pesticides and IPM is essential for reducing adverse effect on environment.