Health and environmental costs of pesticide use in vegetable farming in Nepal

Abstract

There is a growing concern of pesticide risks to human health, natural environment and ecosystems. Many previous economic valuations have accounted health aspects or environmental components, but rarely combined; thus, overall risk assessment is partially distorted. The study, conducted close to the capital of Nepal, addressed the health effects of pesticides on small-scale farmers and evaluated the monetary risks of pesticide use on human health and environmental resources. We also aim to establish the relationships among valuation methods. The paper adopts cost of illness, defensive expenditure and contingent valuation willingness to pay approach. The study concluded that the methods used for valuing pesticide risks to human and environmental health are theoretically consistent. The exposed individuals are likely to bear significant economic costs of exposures depending on geographical location, pesticide use magnitudes and frequency. Individuals are willing to pay between 53 and 79% more than the existing pesticide price to protect their health and environment. The integrated pest management training is less likely to reduce health costs of pesticide exposure, although it leads to higher investment in safety measures.Keywords Pesticides Á Cost of illness Á Defensive expenditure Á Willingness to pay Á Vegetable farming Á Nepal Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.

Efficacy of some biorational insecticides against Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) under laboratory and greenhouse conditions in Kuwait

“…Consequently, the pest has developed resistance and cross‐resistance to a wide range of insecticides in the field, including novel classes of insecticides like diamide insecticides (Roditakis et al, ; Silva, Assis, Ribeiro, & Siqueira, ). Furthermore, the rising demand by consumers for reduced pesticide use in agriculture due to health reasons and the need to protect the environment has rendered pest management strategies that rely heavily on chemical pesticides to be less effective and less efficient (Atreya, Johnsen, & Sitaula, ). Consequently, there is a need to develop T. absoluta control strategies that ensure the production of high‐quality products while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability and maximum consumer protection.…”

Measurement of Organophosphate Pesticides, Organochlorine Pesticides, and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Household Dust from Two Rural Villages in Nepal

“…The studies of human exposures to pesticides in Nepal have typically focused on occupational exposures [16,[62][63][64], or cases of pesticide poisoning and acute symptoms of pesticide exposure [65][66][67][68][69]. Studies of residential use of pesticides in Nepal have generally assessed methods for managing sand fly populations to control visceral leishmaniasis [70][71][72][73][74].…”

Determinants of Pesticide Application in Nepalese Vegetable Farming: An Empirical Analysis using Multivariate Probit Model

“…Although cereal crops are the major produces in Nepalese agriculture system, occupying 280 thousand hectares, as of 2015/16, the vegetable is one of the significant crop (MoAD, 2017). Moreover, an area of vegetable has increased by 99.86% from 1991/92 to 2015/16 (MoAD, 2017, and importantly, vegetable farming is one of the major sink of pesticides in Nepal (Atreya et al, 2012).…”