Sustainability

2015-12-10

Researchers strive to reduce insecticide use in cotton production

It sounds almost too good to be true: the complete eradication of insecticides in cotton cultivation. Could such a thing ever happen? That was the question addressed by a panel of researchers and scientists during the Sixth Open Session of the 74th Plenary Meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), a technical seminar entitled "Elimination of Insecticides from Cotton Production: Is This Possible?"

While the boll weevil has historically been cotton's biggest archenemy, there are multiple secondary pests that continue to drive insecticide use, including the whitefly in Pakistan and India. This year, as much as two-third of the cotton crop in India's state of Punjab suffered damage from a whitefly outbreak.

With so much at stake, the use – and sometimes overuse – of insecticides is understandable, as farmers do everything they can to protect their livelihood. Globally, more than $15 billion was spent on various insecticides in 2013.

“Fortunately, we don't necessarily need to completely eradicate the use of all insecticides to do a lot of good," says Francesca Mancini, a pest and pesticide specialist with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

“The elimination of HHPs [highly hazardous pesticides] from cotton production would contribute enormously to reducing risks to the environment and human health."

Many insect problems, the panelists agreed, aren't caused by the chemicals themselves, but rather by their improper use. Farmers who apply the wrong chemicals at the wrong time exacerbate the problem. Great strides could be made toward reducing the amount of insecticides used, and increasing their efficacy, through education of growers.

One such approach, they said, is integrated pest management (IPM), which emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms.