Pesticides in environment and their management strategies

Abstract

Indian agriculture has seen a paradigm shift from earlier days of begging bowl to a modern era of food self-sufficiency. Pesticides as plant protection agents play an important role in securing food for a nation of 1.22 billion people. If the credits of pesticides include enhanced economic potential in terms of increased production of food and fibre, and amelioration of vector-borne diseases, then their debits have resulted in serious health implications to man and his environment. The general concept of “if little is good, a lot more will be better” has violated the basic concept of need based application of pesticide and hence have become one factor of environmental contamination. This article is aimed to give some light on the evolution of pesticides, there importance and environmental contamination with emphasis on some management strategies.