Zimpapers Logo

EDITOR: Pesticide residues in foods, farmers’ exposure to pesticides, and environmental pollution are serious concerns in Zimbabwe as these are quietly killing dozens of our productive people due to lack of knowledge.

The risks are real and the media has not made much noise that could help our farmers and the rest of the population understand the risks of using pesticides in our everyday life.

At the country’s first national stakeholder consultation workshop organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recently to address highly hazardous pesticides in Zimbabwe, experts said risks from pesticides are high because of the lack of knowledge of farmers, limited training and awareness on the safe production of food crops, the absence of an effective code of practices, and inadequate residue monitoring.

The experts who met discussed at length on how to enhance the country’s capacity to manage pesticides of the public and private sectors and farmers, in order to reduce pesticide residues in agricultural products.

At present, the country has little or no capacity to manage and control the widespread peddling of counterfeit and banned pesticides in the country.

Gabriele Ranieri, a senior official of the FAO Sub-regional Office for Southern Africa, says mounting pressure to double food production in Zimbabwe and all over the world to meet the projected demand for a growing population, has compounded the problem of pesticide use and risk.

The combined effects of climate change and growing competition for land, water and energy are also making the matters worse.

Ranieri says Zimbabwe is no exception and is intensifying its agricultural programmes to meet national demands for food and to increase agricultural exports.

But, the onslaught by transboundary plant pests and animal diseases has forced most farmers to turn to pesticides and chemicals to help reduce losses.

Lack of awareness of the risk associated with pesticide use by consumers and farmers alike has left many exposed to the dangers of pesticides on human health and the environment.

Awareness-raising activities, are still largely absent both in urban and rural areas compromising occupational safety and health of the people.

Implementation of community-level Integrated Pest Management (IPM)-Farmer Field Schools, and chemical safety programmes aimed at risk-assessment and reduction are needed urgently to help save lives.

Zimbabwe needs to quickly develop its own national pesticide policy informed by best practices and the FAO/WHO Guidelines on Highly Harzadous Pesticides (HHPs) to help reduce pesticide risks and promote sustainable crop production approaches.

The country also needs to carry out an aggressive campaign to improve occupational safety and health, by raising awareness on the impacts of the use of pesticides.

The fall armyworm outbreaks have led to the use of heavy pesticides by farmers in a bid to save their crops.

This has exposed many farmers to public health risks. In most cases they can not afford protective clothing.

Ranieri captured the issues aptly: “Countries are under pressure to change pest management practices to more sustainable approaches with reduced reliance on pesticides, and to strengthen regulatory control on the distribution and use of pesticides to reduce risk of harm to people and the environment.

“Such a situation requires effective national pesticide management capacities. An efficiently regulated and managed pesticide registration scheme is a prerequisite for ensuring that pesticides used in the country are useful for controlling pests and would not cause adverse effects to humans and the environment.”

Banned, unregistered or counterfeit products are being sold on the streets and in rural areas across the country without any controls.

Smuggling of these harmful pesticides from neighbouring countries is rife and experts noted with concern that a significant percentage of all registered pesticide products belong to World Health Organisation (WHO) toxicity class Ia. (extremely hazardous), Ib. (highly hazardous) or II. (moderately hazardous).

They all agreed that concerted efforts should be made to increase food production while conserving and enhancing natural resources on which that production depends.

They said a healthy ecosystems produces more, prevents or maintains pests and diseases at acceptable levels and are more resilient to shocks.

An average of about 200 000 people die from the toxic exposure of pesticides per year across the world, according to a 2017 United Nations report, which called for tougher global regulation of substances meant to control pests or weeds for plant cultivation.

The UN report said although pesticide use has been correlated with a rise in food production, it has had “catastrophic impacts” on human health and the environment.

This report lists an array of serious illnesses and health issues with suspected links to pesticides, including cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, hormone disruption, birth defects, sterility, and neurological effects.

In some countries, the UN experts noted, pesticide poisoning even exceeds fatalities from infectious diseases.

The report blamed “systematic denial, fuelled by the pesticide and agro-industry” for “the magnitude of the damage inflicted by these chemicals.”.

Most people, particularly our farmers in Zimbabwe are being exposed to dangerous levels of pesticides in a wide variety of ways, ranging from farmers who use it on their crops to babies drinking their mother’s contaminated breast milk or people sleeping in rooms fumigated for grain pests.

The risks are quite huge with many still using DDT, herbicides and a whole range of dangerous insecticides to control rodents and pests.

Even though other people may be untouched by pesticide exposure, they may be exposed through food, water, air, or direct contact with pesticides or residues, experts noted.

The reckless use of pesticides sprayed on crops frequently pollute the surrounding ecosystem and beyond, with unknown ecological implications.

This has upset the delicate and complex balance between predator and prey species in the food chain. In some cases this has led to wiping out of bee populations, which are vital in the pollination process.

In addition, it has also led to a rise in non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes and numerous other heart and lung infections in humans.

All this requires Zimbabwe to strengthen its national pest and pesticide management capacities across all provinces.

Resources of course are inadequate but working closely with both local and international organisations can help Zimbabwe to manage pesticides better through international standards and guidelines, legislation reviews and through various grassroots level projects.

Sifelani Tsiko