Journal of Krishi Vigyan

Pesticides are turned to be the potent weapon to wipe away the enmassed pest population in agriculture crops, specifically when other measures fail. A deep understanding of the field practices in pesticide application is required to establish the soundness of human health and environmental safety. The study was an attempt to unravel field realities in vegetable cultivation through the prism of good pesticide practices in application. Vegetable fields of National Capital Region (NCR)’s two sub regions Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Haryana were selected for conduct of the study. About 200 farmers growing cabbage, cauliflower, brinjal and bitter gourd were selected as the respondents. This study revealed that the prevailing pest management method was application of plant protection chemicals wherein, farmers gave least consideration for Economic Threshold Level (ETL). Farmers were neither aware of ETL nor following it. Likewise, was the most approached source of information on pesticides was the fellow farmers followed by input dealers. Field practices further indicated that vegetable fields were seldom managed by integrated pest control principles, only invisible percentage of the farmers used bio-pesticides in the fields. The commercial motives, fear of losing market demand and strive for good production in consumer appealing forms are apparent from the farmer’s practices of keeping separate chemical pesticide free plot for production of vegetables for domestic consumption. In sum, farmers’ practices were seldom compliant with the recommended practices of pesticide handling, at the core of which is their lack of awareness about safety practices and its need.