Uganda is one of those countries where pesticide use remains low compared to its neighbors like Kenya and Ethiopia, though their use is steadily rising.
This steady increase is being attributed to the switch to commercial farming – vegetables, cut flowers, grains, poultry and livestock, as consumption and income needs increase.
However, this may come at a very high cost to human health and environmental degradation due to the non-judicious use of chemicals.
The reaction of farmers to the recent outbreak of the fall army worm served as a wakeup call for us to pay attention to the chemical industry in Uganda. In 2017, we saw farmers indiscriminately spraying their crops with whichever ‘combination’ of chemicals their hands could land on.
One of which was the now banned “Rocket” that the ministry of Agriculture recommended farmers to use in management of fall army worm in 2017– though pesticides with similar formulations (Lamda Cyhalothrin, Chrlopyrifos) still abound in our shelves, including Dudu Fenos, Striker, Thunder among others. We may have allowed the worst of the worst chemicals in to our country due to the desperation that farmers are having in pest management, yet little attention is being paid to the negative effects that they pose to the soils, air, human health and water resources.
Governments and farmers alike are rightly worried about the pest and disease infestation and the need to urgently meet food demands, having gone through several cycles of drought, destructive flash floods and sometimes above normal rains that have led to dwindling of food stocks.
But as our fields are being sprayed, we should be deeply concerned when some of the studies on pesticide use by our farmers show that most of them rely on their own previous experience to purchase and determine pesticide doses!
The threat from poor use and over use of pesticides has been known for some time – a factor that led to developed nations banning some of the highly toxic and persistent pesticides upon conducting relevant studies to understand their effects. Several studies around the world have shown a relationship between continued use and exposure to pesticides and increased occurrence of cancer cases in the given communities. Findings by SEARCH international brain tumor studies in nine countries revealed that exposures to inorganic pesticides are related to Child Brain Tumors (CBTs).
Perhaps the ministry of health and other researchers should take concerned on this and let Ugandans know what is going on with their health, especially communities in and around areas where massive pesticide use is taking place – around flowers farms, larger grain fields, livestock farms and other areas undertaking large scale commercial farming.
It is therefore mind boggling to find chemicals banned elsewhere in the Ugandan market, as if to say that the studies carried in Europe and other western nations do not apply to the people living in Uganda.
As an agricultural professional who has worked with farmers to improve their methods of production over a 10 year period, i find it sickening and unbelievable that “dirty” pesticides that are banned in developed countries—like Endosulfan, DDT, Glyphosate, Linden and others—are still hanging in our shelves or have been found to exist in our soils and water to date. Worse still, some EU nations and the US continue to produce these pesticides only for export to the poor countries like Uganda that receive them, as if we do not know the dangers they pose.
What can we do?
We know that organic sprays can deter pest attacks and kill the pests when used along better crop management practices. How then can we harness this knowledge and have an industry of pesticides that works for us rather than against us?
There is need to strengthen policies and regulations of pesticide trade and use. What if the stakeholders in the pesticide industry took a deliberate effort to invite each other for regular meetings, to visit farmers and understand their challenges or to share their studies and observations with each other on a regular basis?
In the meantime, farmers should be educated on the danger of indiscriminate use of pesticides, safe use practices and the appropriate type and dosage for chemical products. What if all the chemical dealers had leaflets in their stores translated in local languages that farmers can easily understand regarding safe use of pesticides?
Can we push for and undertake research to understand level of pesticide residues in our foods, our bodies, our soils and our air? What if we equipped agriculture and environment students in our institutions with test kits and provide them an opportunity to work as volunteers to test our soils, our food, our air, our water and understand the challenge that we are in or may get in to in the near future?
How do we get better at certifying seed and chemical traders, monitor their work to identify coaching needs and provide it to them? What if they all got skills training in pesticide and seed handling and transferred these skills to their customers – the farmers?
What if we promoted tree planting and use of other crops that help us in detoxifying our soils and swamps– through plant uptake of toxic materials? Or rather, we just get rid of all banned chemicals in our market as per the World Health Organization’s list of banned chemicals and those blacklisted by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants?
Someone once said that, “If you love a tree, you will be more beautiful than before” – Zephyr McIntyre. That was a simple emphasis on the role that the environment plays in human life. If we truly love our country, it is time for us put in place considerations to preserve our environment, preserve ourselves and the future generations, by joining the movement for safe use of pesticides!
The writer, Ariong Moses, is a Project Specialist at OneAcreFund Uganda. He is also an Aspen New Voices Fellow and Global Health Corps Fellow.