Economic Impact of Pesticide Use on Cotton Productivity

Large scale and indiscriminate use of pesticides increase the cost of production. This paper is focused on pesticide-use pattern and its impact on cotton productivity under different size groups of farmers in Dharwad district of Karnataka. The study has observed that with one per cent increase in use of plant protection chemicals in a.i. kg/ha, there is 0.058 per cent decrease in yield of large farmers which is negative and significant at 1 per cent level of significance. In case of medium and small farmers, the decrease is lower at 0.039 per cent and 0.034 per cent, respectively. The decrease is significant at 5 per cent level of significance. The optimum quantity (a.i. kg/ha) of pesticide to be used was 0.58, 0.70 and 0.80 in case of small, medium and large farmers, respectively. The factors influencing the cost on pesticide were agricultural income, number of pesticide applications and human labour. The farmers may be encouraged to use eco-friendly pesticides which will increase their income and reduce health and environmental problems. Knowledge about integrated pest management (IPM) need to be disseminated widely in the study area through large scale demonstrations.