BHERIGANGA, SURKHET, March 9: The Karnali province government has initiated a campaign aimed at discouraging the use of pesticides in farming.
The 'pesticides-free week' has been organized in order to raise public awareness against the harmful impact of pesticides, considering its increasing use by the farmers.
800 metric tons of pesticides used in Nepal annually
Initiating the campaign, Minister for Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, Bhim Prakash Sharma, said village-level awareness programmes should be conducted to free Karnali from the use of chemicals in crops and vegetables.
Heart and kidney patients are increasing of late and use of pesticides may be the reason behind it, Minister Sharma added.
Secretary at the Ministry, Dr Narahari Prasad Ghimire, said the use of pesticides is having a serious impact on human health.
He emphasized that other alternatives should be used instead of chemicals. The use of pesticides has increased in a bid to increase production to meet the growing demand for food.
Likewise, Director of Agriculture Development Directorate Chitra Bahadur Rokaya shared that public awareness, information dissemination, display and distribution of biological destroyers of insects, and orientation programs in schools will be organized during the week.
