Pesticide legislation, national and international policies to maintain sustainable crop production through insect pollinator intervention

Abstract

Chemical control of pests is a common practice in agriculture. There are enormous pesticides of both chemical and biological nature used around the globe to minimize crop losses. Agriculture in developing countries suffers most because of high incidence of various pests. In India, estimated annual production losses were in millions. Although chemical pesticides are well known for their effectiveness, their impact on soil and environment, and presence of residue in food products are matters of concern. In addition to this there exists poor appropriate and alternative framework to the use of pesticides besides having full-fledged pesticide legislation. It is important to understand the crucial issues like what are the agriculture crop production issues of using pesticides, and alternative frameworks that could help to solve the problem? Lastly, there are certain gaps in data on pesticide production and use, structure of pesticide industry, regulations for registration, quality assessment, efficient spraying applicators and adverse impacts on the insect pollinator communities. Regarding declining of insect pollinators, a case study will be discussed in this article; however the detailed literature on the ecosystem and health dimensions of pesticide use in Indian agriculture is found to be scarce.