Vol. 11, Issue 4 (2022)

Author(s):
Amlendra Kumar Verma, Dan Singh, DK Singh and Manoj Kumar

Abstract:
Vegetables are good source of income and employment. The contribution of vegetables has been (59–61%) In horticulture crop production over the last five years. During 2017-18, the area under vegetables is estimated at 10.3 million hectares with a production of 179.7 million tonnes in India. In this period the total vegetable production was highest in case of Uttar Pradesh i.e. 28.22 Million Tonnes from 14.38 million hectares area followed by West Bengal i.e. 25.90 Million Tonnes from 13.93 million hectares area. In India it is impossible to completely avoid pesticides use in agriculture. Farmers are forced to use pesticides at different crop stages from planting to harvesting due to various biotic stresses. A large amount of pesticides are applied annually, however less than 5 per cent are estimated to reach the initial target, with the remainder being dumped in soil, water, plants, animals and human beings. Intensification of agriculture through massive adoption of high yielding varieties, increased use of synthetic inputs like chemical fertilizers and pesticides, greater exploitation of irrigation potentiality of surface and groundwater resources and farm mechanization have largely been responsible for a spectacular achievement in the food grain production that we have achieved over last three decades. Higher use of pesticides has emerged as a potential source of danger to sustainability of environment that endangers the existence of all forms of life on this planet. Perils and pitfalls of pesticides have been well evidenced due to their residual toxicity in our food chain (Verma et al. 2013). Meantime, the risks of using pesticides are serious as well (Pimentel, 2009). Most pesticides are not spontaneously generated. Most of them are high toxic to humans and the environment. Pesticides and their degraded products would flow into the atmosphere, soils and rivers, resulting in the accumulation of toxic substances and thus threatening human health and the environment.