The District Agriculture Office (DAO) has been spreading awareness about the negative impact of pesticides on human health through Integrated Pest Management (IPM) workshops.
At such workshops, the farmers are trained on the tolerable use of pesticides and how excessive use of chemicals can jeopardize human health. There are signs that the farmers who have participated in those workshops are gradually decreasing the amount of pesticides they had been using in their fields.
“We have been organizing IPM workshops targeting farmers in various areas of the district. We aim to teach them how to use pesticides properly,” informed Agriculture Development Officer Manoj Kumar Yadav.
Deepak Dhungana, who has been involved in vegetables farming for over a decade, claimed that the use of pesticides by the farmers in the district has decreased drastically. “Many of us used pesticides in excessive quantities due to unhealthy competition. Now the scenario has changed. We make minimal use of pesticides and some farmers have even completely stopped using it,” he said, adding that the change has benefited both the consumers and farmers in many ways.
Sarada Koirala, head of IPM workshops, said that farmers are now more concerned about growing vegetables that are safe to eat rather than increasing profits through the use of pesticides. “Farmers used to buy just any type of pesticides available in the market without knowing their harmful effects. Now they have shifted their focus on growing healthy vegetables,” he added.
Som Nath Niruala, another farmer in Dhading, said that they have also learnt to cure certain diseases that ruin vegetables at the trainings conducted by the government. “We recently learnt how to cure diseases in cauliflower and prevent it. Such workshops really help to boost our knowledge in agriculture,” he added.
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