Pesticide Usage Pattern by Paddy Growers in Palnadu District of Andhra Pradesh

Pesticides are the chemical or biological components used for crop protection in the field, food protection during storage and pest control in the home (Cherukuri et al., 2021) and have become key tool for plant protection. These pesticides have played an important role in achieving food security over the years, with new molecules being introduced in response to changing times, pest scenarios and environmental and food safety requirements (Cherukuri, 2016). Pesticide consumption pattern in India differs from those in world as whole (Sai et al., 2019 and Nayak and Solanki, 2021), where the order of pesticide use in India was, insecticides (51%) > fungicides (33%) > herbicides (16%) and world was, herbicides (56%) > fungicides (25%) > insecticides (19%) (FAO, 2018). Out of the insecticide consumption in India 17% alone accounts for rice crop (Kumar et al., 2019). In India the main use of pesticides accounts for cotton crop followed by paddy and wheat (Cherukuri, 2016). FICCI (2016) reported that major application of insecticides was found in cotton and rice (Cherukuri, 2016), whereas for herbicides the major application areas were rice and wheat and for fungicides it was fruits, vegetables and rice. Organophosphates, carbamates and pyrethroids were the most often used insecticides (Sarao and Mahal, 2007; Gilbert, 2012; Anand Kumar et al., 2020 and Nayak and Solanki, 2021). Anand Kumar et al., (2020), reported that majority of the paddy farmers in Godavari area of Andhra Pradesh used pymetrozine (79%), monocrotophos (78%), acephate (78%), phorate (78%), lambda cyhalothrin (77%) and chlrorpyriphos (75%) in kharif 2016 where majority of the pesticides used by them belonged to class II toxicity classification by WHO. According to report of “Production oriented survey in 2019”, by ICAR-IIRR, 2020, carbofuran, chlorantriniliprole and chlorpyriphos among insecticides; hexaconazole, tricyclazole and carbendazim among fungicides were the most common pesticides reported for use by farmers in rice ecosystems of Andhra Pradesh for effective management of insect pests, diseases and weeds respectively. ICAR-IIRR, 2021, reported the use of insecticides viz., triflumezopyrim, dinotefuran, pymetrozine, profenofos, carbofuran, acephate, monocrotophos and fungicides viz., hexaconzole, chlorantraniliprole, tricyclazole, thifluzamide, azoxystrobin for control of insect pests and diseases in Andhra Pradesh. Hemanth et al., (2021) reported that majority of the farmers used acephate, flubendiamide and chlorantraniliprole at recommended dose whereas, chlorpyriphos, dinotefuran and pymetrozine were used at high dose. Sutharsan et al., (2014) and Anand Kumar et al., (2020) found that ninety per cent of the farmers did not follow the recommended dose of pesticides. Farmers in Godavari area of Andhra Pradesh underwent for 4-8 foliar application of pesticides, in combination of 2-3 chemicals as advocated by pesticide dealers/neighbouring farmers/company agents/commission agents etc., (Yassin et al., 2002; Shetty et al., 2010; Anand Kumar et al., 2020 and ICAR-IIRR, 2021).

This study was carried out among 45 farmers in five mandals i.e., Vinukonda, Savalyapuram, Ipuru, Bollapalle and Nuzendla, with three villages from each mandal and three farmers from each village in paddy growing region of Palnadu district, Andhra Pradesh, India during rabi 2020-21. Every farmer field considered for the study was regarded as an individual unit and the observations on pesticide use namely, name of the pesticide used, dosage and time of application, type of application, use of pesticide mixtures and combination products of pesticide used were recorded from all the units at fortnightly intervals during the crop period from sowing to harvesting through direct field observations and personal interactions. The data collected was tabulated, segregated and analyzed using descriptive statistics in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. The list of pesticides recommended along with their recommended dosages given by CIB and RC on rice crop against target pests were considered for analysis.

Types of pesticides used
 
Farmers in the Palnadu district used a wide range of pesticides in paddy to control various pests viz., weeds, insects, fungal and bacterial pathogens. A perusal of Table 1 unveils that a total of 34 pesticide formulations were used, which includes 17 insecticides, 12 fungicides, 4 herbicides and one bio chemical product. The bio chemical pesticide used in the study area was not registered as per Insecticide Act, 1968, whereas the remaining pesticides used were registered for use. Insecticides used belong to different chemical groups viz., organophosphates, diamides, synthetic pyrethroid, oxadiazine, neonicotinoids, insect growth regulators, macrocyclic lactone, phenyl pyrazole and neriestoxin analogue. According to Insecticide Act, 1968, recommendation as per Insecticide Act, 1968, non-recommended pesticides used by farmers in the study area belong to insecticides alone, which includes three insecticides i.e., profenofos, which was not recommended against target pests in rice crop; indoxacarb 14.5 SC and emamectin benzoate 5 SG which were recommended for use in rice crop but the formulations used here were not recommended.
 

       
Majority of the fungicides used belong to triazoles and dithiocarbamates, whereas, the remaining were grouped under dithiolanes and benzimidazoles. The three herbicides viz., butachlor, pretilachlor and pyrazosulfuron ethyl used in the study area associated with three different chemical classes i.e., acetanilides, chloro acetanilides and sulfonyl ureas respectively. As per WHO (2019), classification, among the insecticides used monocrotophos was highly toxic and likely to cause many ill-effects whereas, chlorantaniliprole, unlikely to pose any acute toxicity in normal use. Among fungicides used, propineb, mancozeb, zineb and carbendazim and among herbicides pretilachlor and pyrazosulfuron ethyl belongs to class ‘U’ which is unlikely to present any acute toxicity in normal use. The number of pesticide applications given by each individual rice farmer was presented in Fig 1 which reveals that four farmers had not used any chemical pesticide in the crop growth period as these farmers followed Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) and the remaining 41 farmers were found dependent on chemical pesticides for the control of wide range of pests. This result was in accordance with the report given by DPPQ and S, 2021 where majority of area under cultivation in India was under the use of chemical pesticides. The study also revealed that over all 345 pesticide applications were used by 41 farmers in the entire crop period with an average of 8.41 pesticide per each field (Table 2). The number of pesticide applications (pesticide wise) given by rice farmers presented in Table 2 revealed that acephate was the highest used pesticide with 40 applications where almost all the farmers used acephate as a preventive chemical because it has broad spectrum of activity against various pests of rice with residual systemic activity. According to the study, acephate, propineb and pretilachlor were the highest used insecticide, fungicide and herbicide respectively. Whereas, in India, according to the data given by MoAandFW (2022), for the crop year 2020-21 acephate (5^th), propineb (4^th) and pretilachlor (2^nd) were among the top five highly consumed pesticides in their respective category. Fig 2 showed that insecticides (150) and fungicides (146) were predominant among the chemical pesticides used followed by herbicides (29). This outcome of the study was in concurrence with the study conducted by Yadav and Dutta (2019) in Rajasthan. The highest usage of triazoles (67) and organophosphates (61) followed by diamides (37) and dithiocarbamates (34) was evident from Fig 3. Similarly, highest consumption of organophosphates was documented in studies conducted by Gilbert (2012) and Nayak and Solanki (2021). Toxicity class of majority of pesticide applications given by farmers in the study area belonged to class - II, “Moderately toxic” (160) and the use of “highly toxic” pesticide of class - Ib (3) was also noticed in the study area (Fig 4). Anand Kumar et al., (2020), also reported that majority of the paddy farmers in Andhra Pradesh used pesticides that belonged to class II toxicity classification by WHO.
 

 

 

 

 

       
Majority of the farmers were found to use acephate (73.17%), flubendiamide (70.73%) and propineb (70.73%); whereas hexaconazole (58.54%), lambda cyhalothrin (56.10%) and tricyclazole (53.66%) were used by more than fifty percent of the rice farmers atleast once during their crop growth period (Fig 5). Pesticides like profenofos, dinotefuran, fipronil, cartap hydrochloride, chlorpyriphos + cypermethrin and hexaconazole + zineb were used only by 2.44 per cent of the farmers i.e., only by one member among the total 41 farmers that were found using pesticides; whereas, butachlor, zineb, emamectin benzoate and indoxacarb were used only by 4.88 per cent i.e., two farmers.
 

 
Use of recommended pesticides
 
Out of the total 345 pesticide applications used 25 were not recommended against the target pests of the crop which include 20 biochemical pesticidal applications and five insecticidal applications i.e., emamectin benzoate 5 SG (2), indoxacarb 14.5 SC (2) and profenophos 50 EC (1), where the former two insecticides were recommended with different formulations in the crop but the later insecticide was not recommended in any formulation against any insect pests of rice (Fig 6 and Table 3).
 

 

 
Use of recommended dosages
 
Usage of pesticides at various dosages presented in Fig 7. revealed that 45.94 per cent of the pesticide applications involved use of pesticides at higher doses, while 22.81 per cent were at lower doses. Majority of the pesticide sprays against target pests did not follow the recommended dose and only about 31.25 per cent were done with recommended doses. Some respondents that used higher doses mentioned that, they use overdose of pesticides as their neighbouring farmer found using the same dose. Non-availability of required quantity packs of pesticides in the market and lack of knowledge on dosages of pesticides also attributed to the usage at lower or higher doses. The highly used insecticides, acephate (97.44%) and lambda cyhalothrin (100%) were used majorly at higher dose and flubendiamide (100%) was used at recommended dose. In case of fungicides the majorly used fungicide propineb was used only at lower dose in all the applications, whereas, other highly used fungicides tricyclazole (72.73%) and hexaconazole (50%) were used majorly at recommended dose and some other commonly used fungicides, propiconazole (94.44%) and carbendazim (100%) were mostly used at higher doses (Table 4). Anand Kumar et al., (2020) also reported that majority (88%) of the farmers had not followed recommended doses of pesticides.
 

 

A total of 34 pesticide formulations were used, which includes 17 insecticides, 12 fungicides, 4 herbicides and one bio chemical product. Four farmers had not used any chemical pesticide in the crop growth period as these farmers followed Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) and the remaining 41 farmers were found dependent on chemical pesticides for the control of wide range of pests. Toxicity class of majority of pesticide applications given by farmers in the study area belonged to class - II, “Moderately toxic”. Out of the total 345 pesticide applications used 25 were not recommended against the target pests of the crop and 45.94 per cent of the pesticide applications involved use of pesticides at higher doses, while 22.81 per cent were at lower doses.

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.