Assessment of phytosanitary practices on the environment: Case study potato of Loukkos (North-West Morocco)

Abstract

Loukkos perimeter is among the most important irrigated agricultural areas in Morocco. It covers horticulture and market garden production, including potato. This crop is characterized by the intensive use of pesticides that could lead to health and ecological risks, via the food chain and contamination of natural resources, including groundwater. This study aims to assess the use of pesticides in potato cultivation and their impacts on the environment and human health. Here, pesticide use was characterized by the number of treatments (NT), quantity of active substances indicator (QASI) and the treatment frequency indicator (TFI), through field surveys carried out on 50 Loukkos potato producers. The results showed that farmers use heavy pesticide treatments, mainly against late blight. We determined NT = 19 treatments, total TFI = 28.10 and QASI = 14.86 kg/ha. These values reflect a massive use of pesticides on this crop, which could therefore constitute a challenge and a major constraint for the development of sustainable agriculture in this zone, due to their negative environmental and health effects. It is, therefore, necessary to react quickly to make changes in phytosanitary practices with the aim to monitoring pesticide use via the agro-environmental indicators to reduce health and environmental impact of intensive pesticide use.