Community Pesticide Action Monitoring

 No to the silent killer: Pesticides

The farmlands in Orissa continue to be in the control of chemical inputs while Orissa is being promoted as a default organic state. Pesticides and chemical fertilizers have already caused chemical disaster with irreversible impacts.

Our visits to farmlands in the north eastern and western central districts in Orissa and interactions with 50 to 60 farmers show that pesticides are highly used. Farmers in the Rayagada and Bargarh district -who are known as cotton and vegetable exporters- tell us that they use high amounts of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. They report the decline in biodiversity of flora and fauna as an impact of pesticide use.

Living Farms wants to equip the community to monitor the usage, storage and health hazards especially on women and children. We interact with communities to document their life experiences with concern to pesticide usage and  health hazards.

We concentrate on pesticides like Endosulfan and Monocrotophos. They belong to the Organochlorine and Organophosphate group which are marked as  "extremely hazardous" and "highly hazardous” by the WHO standard. 

We will share our findings with policy makers to draw their attention towards this alarming situation.

Our way ahead to address this concern is planned three fold

• Documenting life experiences of causes and impact of pesticide use through participatory sharing.
• Impact of health hazards among women and children in villages exposed to pesticides of the Organochlorine and Organophosphate group for more than 10 years.
• Documenting the loss of agro-biodiversity due to the use of chemical inputs.