114 Agricultural Harm to the Environment
The extent of pesticide poisoning among farmers and workers in developing
countries is worrying (Kishi, 2005). In the extreme hot weather of the tropics,
protective gear does not seem to be a viable solution to eliminate occupational
risks. Farmers’ education on the pesticide hazard alone has not achieved significant
results. The solution seems to be in the replacement of pesticides with non- or less
toxic alternatives. One example of such alternatives can be found in the Integrated
Pest Management approach.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the EU-FAO IPM Programme for cotton in Asia for
providing necessary financial help in carrying out this project. They thankfully
acknowledge the valuable reviews and comments of the following: Peter Ooi, Pal-
antswamy Pachagounder and Gerd Walter-Echols, EU-FAO IPM Programme;
Peter Kenmore and Harry van der Wulp, Global IPM Facility; Aad Termorshui-
zen, Wageningen University and Research Centre. Special recognition is due to the
Indian farmers and facilitators who participated in this project.
Notes
1 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is based on preserving natural enemies and growing healthy
crops to control pests.
2 Farmer Field School (FFS) is an adult educational approach to empower farmers, developed in
Indonesia in the early 1990s.
3 Developed by Keifer (1996) and adopted by Murphy et al (2002). The list is given in Table 5.2.
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