Cost-Benefit Analysis of Pesticide Use from Farmers Health Perspective

Abstract

Background: Pesticides are significant and growing component of the modern agricultural sector that has been widely adopted across the country. Pesticides are commonly expected to contribute to increase crop yields by minimizing damages caused by pests. However, a continuous increase in pesticide application in excess of the necessary level will cause spillover effects on both economic return and ecological environment, especially on farmer's health (2). Therefore, it is essential for farmers to keep the pesticides amount at the optimal level in order to maximize profit and reduce cost to environment in which cost of farmer's health is a serious concern. Despite the high cost of the chemicals, farmers still rely on pesticides to control pest and diseases due to the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of pesticides. Overuse, misuse and abuse of pesticide were often seen and heard of (1). Farmers do not typically utilize recommended doses of pesticides nor do they utilize the producers’ recommended practices for safe storage, handling, and application. On the one hand, most small-scale farmers in Nepal have little or no formal education. A wide and changing array of insecticides, herbicides, and other pesticides are available to farmers, but little, if any, research and extension is available to guide farmers in their use, and most farmers rely on the recommendations of chemical dealers or their own experience in deciding how to use pesticides (1). While concerns have been expressed for more than a decade about the adverse effects of pesticides on human health and the environment in developing countries, there is a need to systematically assess and quantify the health and environmental effects of pesticides (2).