CONCEPT PAPER

AN ECONOMIC IMPACT AND EXTERNALITIES OF PESTICIDE

APPLICATION IN AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY MYSORE

DISTRICT OF KARNATAKA.

Introduction:

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Indian economy, agriculture and allied sectors

contribute nearly 14.2 percent of the gross domestic product at present, while about 69.7

percent of the population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, as per the

economic survey of 2010-11. Agriculture has been undergoing metamorphic change

since the introduction of green revolution techniques and technologies in India.

Agriculture inputs play a crucial role in determining yield levels and in turn augmentation

of level of production in the longrun. Improvement in yield levels depends on application

of technology, use of quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, micronutrients and irrigation.

Pesticides are of most significant among various agricultural inputs in boosting

agricultural production and productivity, since pesticide act as protective umbrella for

other inputs. Pesticide constitute the control tactics for management of pests and

diseases. The production and productivity of crops depends on the efficient control of

pests and diseases which are estimated to cause 10-30% losses.

Recently, Pesticide related issues have been extensively highlighted in India and

Stockholm convention held in Geneva in October 2010. India rejected the proposal to

ban endosulfan globally. This should be a cause for concern especially with new cases of

health disorders found in Palakkad of Kerala and Dakshina Kannada in Karnataka. Issues

of indiscriminate and sometimes excessive use of pesticides as claimed not only damaged

environment and agriculture but also entering into food chain.

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In developing countries like India chemical pesticides are used on a large scale, as

they significantly contributed to the enhancement of agriculture production. Indeed as

food and fibre requirements of growing population increased coupled with the need to

generate foreign exchange and market oriented forming system, increasing agricultural

productivity became a vital national concern. An important component of government

strategies is to increase agricultural production has been the encouragement of pesticide

use by the way of liberal subsidies since pests and disease are of the major causes of yield

losses. This was coupled with the adoption of economic policies that facilitated the

access to and domestic industry of Pesticides.

Furthermore, most manufacturers agree that there is a lack of education on the use

of pesticides among farmers, they refuse to believe that the pesticides are carcinogenic.

The International Agency for Research on cancer has not listed any pesticide as

carcinogenic and the manufacturers have been highlighting this. Nevertheless pesticides

that have been banned or restricted to their use in many countries have been liberally

used in India. Mainly due to lacuna in the existing legal framework perhaps the user cost

is less and social cost is more as the farmers incur only buying the pesticides whereas the

government has to spend huge resources on pesticide related public health programs.

Further more, legal aspects for pesticide licensing and marketing are very vague in India

and also interdepartmental co-operation and co-ordination are very poor.

NGOs and social activists say that, pesticides are a major cause of cancer in most

villages across the country. They say that the cotton growing Malwa region of Punjab,

Bhatinda, has been reported to show a rise in the number of cancer cases.

Environmentalist Sunita Narain (CSE) says, pesticides may or may not lead to cancer.

But in malwa, a significant number of cancer patients had high levels of pesticide in their

blood. As per the standing committee of the Ministry of Chemicals, the loss of

agricultural crops due to pests, diseases and weeds is a staggering Rs.90,000 crore per

annum. According to the committee, "A total organic farming is not feasible under high

productive intensive agriculture. Essential elements like nitrogen, phosphorus,

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potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur cannot be supplied through organic manure

alone. The productivity goes down by one third in pesticide free farming. Organic

farming is good only for Kitchen gardens.

Improvement in yield, which is key to long term growth, depends on a host of

factors including technology, use of quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, micronutrients,

and irrigation. Each of these plays a role in determining yield level and in turn

augmentation in the level of production.

Prior to 1940, the consumption of pesticides was negligible and restricted to a few

inorganic pesticides. During world war II, large-scale use of synthetic pesticides began

with the invention of DDT. Since then, the consumption of pesticides has increased

steadily.

Global Scenario

An estimated 4.5 million metric tons of pesticides are consumed in the world

annually to protect crops and meet the demands of public health. Globally, nearly 45

percent of the total pesticides used consist of herbicides (weedicides) while 30 percent

consists of insecticides. Fungicides and other pesticides account for 20 percent and 5

percent respectively. Out of the total pesticides consumed in the world, as much as

72percent is used in the USA, Europe and other developed countries, while all the

developing countries together consume only 28 percent. Asia, Africa and Latin America

consume 12, 4 and 8 percent respectively. This uneven consumption pattern shows that

perils caused by pesticides are also of different proportion in different parts of the world.

Herbicides have a larger share in global pesticide consumption than insecticides.

While developed countries use a higher quantum of herbicides, the share of insecticides

in the total pesticide consumption is lower. This is mainly because acute labour shortage

in these countries makes the use of herbicides inevitable to control the weeds. Contrary

to this, the share of insecticides in most developing countries is higher than that of

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herbicides. This is especially true of India and China where weeds could be better

controlled by human labour.

Indian Scenario

The consumption of pesticides began in India principally for malaria control and

later gradually extended to agricultural and domestic purposes. DDT was the first

synthetic insecticide used in our country. Although the share of non-agricultural

pesticides was gradually reduced (at present more than 75 percent of the pesticide

consumed is mainly for agricultural purposes) the use of DDT and other pesticides has

continued in many programmes of public health. The consumption of pesticides varies

greatly from state to state. Ten states in our country consume 89 percent of the total

Indian pesticide consumption of 43,584 tones.

In summary, Indian pesticide scenario leads to the following conclusions

Three crops (cotton, red gram and rice) receive 80 percent of the total pesticide

consumption.

In general, the pollution due to herbicides is less, while pollution due to

insecticides is very high in India.

The general awareness about pollution due to pesticides is at a very low level, in

urban and rural India.

Karnataka Scenario

In Karnataka the use of pesticides has increased in both irrigated and un irrigated

areas in 2001-02 as compared to 1996-97 survey. The increase from 26.0% to 30.4%

under irrigated area and under unirrigated area from 8.4% to 8.2%. The percentage area

under all crops with pesticides under irrigated area was highest in Kodagu (90.9%),

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followed by Shimoga (70.6%), Raichur (70.5%), Bellary, Mandya and Mysore(55%) of

each districts according to input survey of Karnataka of November 2007.

In Karnataka the coverage of area under pesticides under irrigated area treated

with pesticides of all size class, coffee accounted for higher share of 89.6%, followed by

paddy 57.6%, cotton 54.2%, Tur 42.9%, and groundnut 34.1%. Under un irrigated area

treated with pesticides of all size class Tur accounted for higher share of 68.2% followed

by cardamum 41%, cotton 40.5% , and coffee 38.3%.

The area covered under plant protection measures and consumption of pesticide in

Karnataka from 1970-71 to 2006-07, the area covered under plant protection measures

was 3,010,000hectares under which the pesticides consumption accounted to 2,107

metric tons in1970-71. This went up as high as 43,79000 hectares of area covered under

plant protection measures, under which the pesticide consumption was 4379 metric tons

in 1989-90. Over the years the area covered under plant protection measures came down

drastically to 24,00,000 hectares under which, pesticides accounted to 940 metric tons in

2006-07. Hence there is a continuous decline in both area under plant protection

measures and pesticides consumed after 1989-90 as far as pesticides consumption

scenario of Karnataka State is concerned.

Agriculture has been undergoing metamorphic change since the introduction of

green revolution techniques and technologies in India. Adoption of modern farming

techniques involving improved irrigation, high yielding varieties, agro-chemicals and

farm mechanization have made significant contributions towards raising food production.

At the same time, however, intensive cultivation of high-yielding varieties, monoculture

of commercially important crops, overlapping of cropping seasons and excessive

application of agro-chemicals have resulted in high incidences of pests and diseases.

Increasing crop loss due to pests is a major constraint sustaining agricultural productivity

and production. Chemical pesticide is an essential input for pest control in agriculture

which is defined as any substance or mixture of substances, intended for preventing

destroying or controlling any pest including vectors of human or animal disease,

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unwanted species of plants and animals. In recent past pesticide related issues have been

extensively highlighted in the media including research journals and attracted wider

debate and sharp focus among the interested groups in India and elsewhere too. Issues of

indiscriminate and sometimes excessive use of the synthetic pesticides have claimed not

only damaged environment and agriculture, but also entering in to food chain, thereby

affecting health and development.

In developing countries the main intention of the introduction of pesticides was to

prevent and control insect pests and diseases in the field crops and of course initially the

use of pesticides reduced pest attack and paved the way for increasing the crop yield as

expected. Simultaneously increased use of pesticides has resulted in contaminating the

environment and the long term implication of the society are found multidimensional. In

India pests cause crop loss of more than Rs.6,000 crores annually of which 33 percent are

by weeds, 26 percent by diseases, 20 percent by insects, 10 percent by birds and rodents

and the remaining (11 percent) is due to other reasons. As per the standing committee of

the ministry of chemicals, the loss of agricultural crops due to pests and diseases and

weeds is a staggering Rs 90,000 crore per annum. The magnitude of the problem would

grow further as more and more pests and diseases likely to attack crops and the need to

use pesticides in different farms will be necessitated in the years to come.

In developing economies like ours chemical pesticides are used on a large scale, as

they significantly contributed to the enhancement of agriculture production. Indeed, as

food and fiber requirements of growing population increased coupled with the need to

generate foreign exchange, increasing agricultural activity became a vital national

concern.

Theoretically, agro-chemical, are used on large scale for all crops under a market

oriented faming system but under subsistence farming scenario farmers tend to use less

quantum of pesticides as they consider that production is sufficient to meet the domestic

requirements. While intensity of production increases towards market orientation from

subsistence level, invariably farmers use a high dosage of agro-chemicals for generating

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more income via production. Another aspect is that when the land becomes scarce and

the agricultural production moves towards market orientation, more chemicals including

pesticides are required. Now as the as the cultivable land becomes a scarce and inelastic

commodity due to population growth, the situation will be aggravated in the years to

come especially in highly populated countries like India and China.

Another important of government strategies to increase agricultural production has

been the encouragement of pesticide use since pests and diseases are of the major causes

of yield losses. This was coupled with the adoption of economic policies that facilitated

the access to opt domestic industry of pesticides.

The extent of pesticide use in a region rests primarily on the concept of minimizing

production risk or reducing yield variance. In minimising risk farmers will equate

marginal private benefits with marginal private cost to maximise net private benefits of

using pesticides are typically increases in yield, risk reduction in crop output.

Pesticides like herbicides, insecticides and fungicides have been introduced during

mid sixties along with other inputs for propagating green revolution packages in Indian

agriculture. The main intention of the introduction of pesticides was to prevent and

control insect pests and diseases in the field crops on the one hand and on the other as the

use of pesticides has reduced pest attack and paved way for increasing the crop yield as

expected.

Initially pesticides were applied to cereal crops and now due to increase in pests and

diseases on other crops as well they are increasingly used. Three crops (cotton, redgram

and rice) receive 80 percent of the pesticide consumption. It is observed that in India the

annual pesticide business is estimated at around Rs.5,000 crores and in the coming years

this will grow faster and soon will become a major player in the world.

The government was proactive in providing liberal packages to agro-chemical

industries and expectedly, the production increased and in the special circumstances the

government provided subsidies to farmers. For instance, during 2000-01 the union

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government released a sum of Rs.96.2 millions of which Rs. 74 millions was contributed

by the union government alone to combat Eriophyidemite on coconut palms in the state

of Karnataka.

The use of synthetic pesticides has increased significantly from 1950-51 to late 90's.

There is a decline during the latter parts of the reference periods especially 90's. Notably,

a total pesticide used was peak during 80's as the period was undergoing spiral effect of

green revolution. The continuous decrease after 80's in the use of pesticides may be

related to an issue that the farmers are increasingly aware of the adverse effects of such

input in India.

Review of Literature:

The research studies (CSE, 2003 and VHAI 1991) on the ill effects of agro-

chemicals largely report that continuous application of chemical inputs has caused

damage to the environment and the living beings. Across the globe while some empirical

studies like Pagiala (1995) found that, pesticide use actually lowered the yields, others

observed that there was an adverse impact on health (Mencher, 1991 and Antle and

Pingali 1994). Dismally the value of crop loss to pests is invariably lower than the cost

of pesticide related illness (Rola and Pingali 1993) and the associated loss in farmers

productivity (Antle and Pingali 1994) for many Asian countries including India. In India,

the premier Central Food Technological Research Institute's study shows that of 204

samples of cereals, pulses, milk, eggs, meat and vegetables 108 were found to contain

pesticide residues (quoted in Vahab and others 1991).

Similarly a study conducted by Das Gupta and others (2001) observed that, the

application of pesticides has caused environmental and social cost in Brazil, where trade

liberalization encouraged the farmers to use the same more on exportable crops obviously

for economic gains. As observed by Rajendran (2002) indiscriminate pesticide dumping

by a state owned department made serious environment and economic revelation in the

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highly literate state of Kerala in India. As observed by Leela Solomon (2011) new cases

of suspected additional victims of endosulfan have been reported from Mathalamada

Panchayat of Palakkad district. A study conducted by Indira Devi (2009) observed that

one-third of the workers read the label on the pesticide packet either themselves or

seeking help, but 99.5% of them could not understand the toxicity level reading the

colour code on the bottle (2010) while, education was expected to have a negative

impact. The more educated people were expected to be at a lower risk owing to better

awareness. A study conducted by Indira Devi (2009) observed that, pesticide use in most

of the developing countries is reported to be unscientific and unregulated, causing serious

damages to the ecosystem and human health and there is a trade-off between the health

impacts and financial benefits of crop production. As observed by P.K. Shetty and

Marium sabitha (2009), farmers take short-term assessments of pesticide use. In the

process they put their efforts to maximize the net returns by minimizing the crop losses.

As observed by Shetty and others (2008) there is always scope for more pesticide

consumption in India in coming decades owing to the growing population. Coupled with

high demand for food grains and intensification of agriculture under the fast changing

climate. As observed by Rajendran (2002), the aerial spraying of pesticides on cashew

plantations in Kerala has now been documented to have taken a heavy toll on human

health and environmental well being. As observed by Suresh Sachdeva (2007), some of

the costs like health risks, loss of money for health care, loss of labours due to sickness,

decreasing potential work, long term health effect of pesticide etc. should also be taken

into consideration before deriving the economic advantage of the use of pesticides. A

study by Shetty (2004) observed that farmers rely heavily on pesticides for pest control.

However, over application and indiscriminate use of pesticides has had several adverse

consequences and deepened agrarian distress.

The above earlier studies reveal that there is difference of opinions among

manufactures of pesticides, researchers, NGO’s, Agriculturists, Environmentalists and

Economists with regard to the use of pesticides. Against this backdrop this study is

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proposed to carried out empirically to explore economics of pesticide use and

externalities associated with pesticide use.

Thus the above studies explained that the environmental terrorism continues to

prevail upon the millions of poor and innocents in the country in the pretext of food-

security. Undeniably food security has to be maintained to overcome the starvation and

food security in the country by all possible means and practical ways. They raises an

important dimension of need for maintaining sustainable agricultural system. Problem of

chemical pesticides is not common in India and developed countries too increasingly

experiencing. According to Mehta (1991) USA, only one in a hundred citizens do not

carry DDT in their bodies and upto 5 lakh illness and 20,000 deaths can be attributed

annually to chemical pesticides worldwide. According to an estimate made by WHO,

each year 30 lakhs cases of pesticide poisoning including 2,20,000 deaths are reported

across the globe (DTE, 2001).

Some pesticides that have been banned in many countries and some pesticides like

DDT whose use has been restricted have also been used in India mainly due to lacuna in

the existing legal framework. Perhaps the uses cost is less and social cost is more as the

farmers incur only for buying pesticides, whereas the government has to incur huge

resources to spend on the pesticides related public health programs.

The above findings give enough evidence to agree that under market economy

regime and consumerism agricultural goods that carry pesticide residues will have poor

demand across the globe. Hence, this issue needs serious attention and quick action for

social, environment and economic consideration in the context of sustainable

development. Thus the continuous application of synthetic pesticides has also contributed

for the extinction of useful organisms present in the soil like earthworms, bees, plants,

and the likely to natural decay, which otherwise would have contributed for preventing

harmful pests and maintaining eco-balance.

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Research Gap:

In recent years there is a policy shift in favour of sustainable agricultural system, the

study is proposed to examine the magnitude and impact of pesticide use on farm incomes,

productivity and the negative externalities associated with it. In addition to this, detailed

study on the economics of pesticides use and externalities of pesticide use in Indian

agriculture is considered to be very relevant due to the ongoing debate relating to the ban

on endosulfan and other pesticides. Studies relating to pesticides application in Karnataka

are limited and there are few Studies pertaining to Mysore district.

Need for the study:

Thus there is a need for a deeper understanding of pesticide application in

agriculture. Issues such as economics of pesticide used and health implications are also of

topical interest, because in our urge to increase the food production, economic stability

and environmental sustainability cannot be forgotten. Broad issues identified in the

course of the debate are kept in mind while framing the following objectives.

Following are the specific objectives of the proposed study;

Objectives :

1. To analyze the growth pattern of pesticide usage in agriculture in Karnataka in

general and Mysore district in particular.

2. To examine the economic viability of pesticide application.

3. To assess the negative externalities of pesticide use.

4. To identify the determinants of pesticide use in the study area given the above

objectives, following the hypotheses have been formulated;

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Hypotheses:

1. Use of pesticides in the long run is not economically viable.

2. Pesticide use results in negative externalities.

3. Income, land holdings and education are the major determinants of the pesticide

use.

Methodology of the Study:

Data Source:

This study depends on both secondary and primary data. Secondary data will be

collected from the Ministry of Agriculture Govt. of India and Karnataka, Economic

Survey of Govt. of India and Karnataka, Dept. of Statistics and program implementation

Govt. of India and other sources. Primary data will be collected from 300 sample

households. Data on crop wise pesticide used across different farm sizes will be

collected. For this, structured schedules will be used. Schedules will be pre-tested from

the farmer households before collecting the data.

Study Area and Sample Design:

In Mysore district three taluks will be selected. One is Periyapatna Taluk which is

a key tobacco growing region and consumes huge quantity of pesticides. Another is

T.Narsipura Taluk which is a paddy growing region and also consumes fairly huge

quantity of pesticides and Mysore Taluk, where the area under vegetables is large and the

consumption of pesticides is quite large. Hence, the present study will be conducted in

these taluks. Appropriate sample farmers are selected according to probability random

technique.

Relevance and Scope of the study:

When the entire agriculture spectrum is reeling under stress, the present study

assumes great significance. Also in the context of sustainable agriculture the present

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study is expected to provide alternative strategies thereby it is hoped to contribute a great

deal to the development economics. The methodological and analytical style of the

proposed study might serve as a model for further research. Finding out an alternative

system of farming in the place of chemical agriculture is the order of the day. In this

regard, the proposed study has more relevance as the entire agriculture system requires

alternative production strategies. The outcome of the study would be highly useful not

only to the farmers but also to the policy makers. The study would provide feedback to

the scientists and the results would be an eye opener to environmentalists to reorient their

approaches for popularizing eco-friendly, cost effective, socially acceptable and highly

sustainable pesticide free production practices among the farming community, keeping

food security in mind.

Limitations:

The present study mainly relies on the data collected from the farmers of tobacco,

paddy and vegetables through survey method using a pre-tested schedule. Therefore,

some amount of recall bias is likely to be associated with the collected data, since farmers

do not maintain proper records about their cultivation expenses, input costs and returns.

However, efforts would be made to minimize the bias through cross checks at the time of

data collection.

Chapter Scheme:

First chapter of the study deals with introduction where, a detail of importance of

agriculture in the Indian Economy was discussed.

The Second chapter deals with the review of literature and research gap.

The Third chapter deals with a brief introduction to Karnataka Economy.

The Fourth chapter deals with macro level analysis of pesticide consumption at

national and state level in detail.

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The chapter Five deals with core analysis which includes profile of sample farmers,

economics of pesticide use and externalities of pesticide use etc.

The last chapter summarizes the major findings and suggests measures for policy

formulation.

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FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation), (1997) Statistics on Pesticide Use

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Caracalla, Rome, Italy.

GOI (Government of India), (1999) Agricultural Statistics at a Glance,

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Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi.

GOK (Government of Karnataka), (2002) Economic Survey – 2001 -2002,

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Mencher J P (1991) Agricultural Labor and Pesticides in Rice Growing

Regions of India: Some health Considerations, Economic and Political Weekly,

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Rajendran S, (2002) Pesticide Spraying in Kerala- Human Cost and

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Swaminathan M S (1968) Keynote Address in the India Science congress held

(January) at Varanasi.

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WHO (1990): : Public health impact of pesticides used in agriculture”,

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