Managing Pests without Pesticides

Ramanjaneyulu GV¹*

1. Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA), Tarnaka, India

In 2003, a small village in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, declared itself pesticide-free. Since then, its farmers have stopped using pesticides for crops like cotton, Bengal gram (chick pea), chilli and paddy – all known to use notoriously high quantities of pesticides.

The pesticide-free status of Punukula, Khammam district, a predominantly tribal village, is creating ripples in the state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) India. Andhra Pradesh is reeling under frequent spells of drought since the past five years, and reported thousands of farmer suicides. An estimated 1,200 suicides were reported in the period June-August 2004 alone. One of the reasons for the rise in suicides has been the crushing burden of debt: many farmers buy expensive seeds and pesticides and when the crops fail, their own survival becomes difficult. In addition to supplying seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, input dealers started extending loans at high interest rates to the hapless farmers. The debt trap was fast closing in on the farmers whose yields were greatly affected by pests. Farmers in Punukula, like elsewhere, started committing suicide.

In 1999, the Socio-Economic and Cultural Upliftment in Rural Environment (SECURE), a local NGO, stepped in and suggested that the farmers try out ecological methods to control pests. The determination and support of the five self-help groups (SHGs) run by the village women helped to make this ecological shift in pest management possible.

Punukula farmers now claim that they are able to save up to Rs 3 million (1USD = Rs. 46) every year on agricultural inputs in the 600 acres of Punukula farmlands by adopting eco-friendly methods towards pest management. They have saved at least Rs 5,000 per acre since reducing their dependence on expensive pesticides. Their success in eliminating the use of artificial pesticides from cotton fields has been the most remarkable when the pests became resistant to the pesticides being used.

SECURE initially began work with 20 farmers, including a few women. In the beginning, when the farmers were beginning to be skeptical of the interventions, members of the women SHGs stepped in. Realizing that the savings with the new methods were enormous – up to Rs 10,000 per acre at times, they firmly and successfully persuaded their men to stop buying pesticides. The women were so determined that they even took on the additional work of preparing the anti-pest sprays from neem (azadaricta) and chilli-garlic paste. They also ensured that no one brought pesticides into their village.

With initial successes, slowly, others also started realizing that pesticides meant higher debts as well as high medical costs. By 2003, most farmers in this 200-household village had stopped using the harmful pesticides. Pesticide dealers stopped coming into the village as sales dropped dramatically. Besides covering 400-odd acres of cotton, the new method was also used in fields growing chilli and paddy. Today, Punukula is a centre of attraction for other villagers who are inspired and impressed by its healthy crops.

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