Use of Agrochemicals in Agriculture: Alarming Issues and Solutions

Agricultural growth affects the economic growth of a country through the supply of food and other raw materials to nonagricultural sectors, and it is quite obvious that agricultural productivity through judicious use of inputs could play a vital role in structural change in the economy. But the indiscriminate use, rather misuse of chemical inputs in agriculture, has led to many problems in our ecosystem. A rough estimate of pesticide usage among the different developing countries shows that East Asia (including China) and Latin America consume almost 70% of the total pesticide use with only 4% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Due to the irrational use of agrochemicals, the degree of pollution in soil, air, water, and ecosystem as a whole is a big concern for us. A typical estimate of soil surface nitrogen balance for agricultural land in India reveals that inorganic fertilizer is the major contributor of nitrogen inputs in the ecosystem (10.8 Tg N) followed by manure (1.53 Tg) and a positive balance of 2.32–1.89 Tg N was found which is responsible for various environmental hazards. The judicious use of inputs matching with the requirement of the crops and their application below residue detection limits are the priority areas to protect our future generations from hazardous effects and to provide food to every mouth on the other hand. We have to assess the harmful effects of various chemical inputs used in agriculture continuously, and suitable strategies are to be developed orienting towards the rational use of inputs. The major impacts of chemicals and their contaminants are alterations in species diversity, degradation of physical–chemical–biological parameters of soil, water, and atmosphere, making them of inferior quality. This chapter describes the impact of alarming uses of chemicals on agricultural systems, water bodies as well as on the environment on one hand, and framing of suitable strategies targeting judicious use of inputs in agriculture on the other. Strategies include sustainable resource management through conservation agriculture practices, site-specific nutrient management, precision farming, integrated management of pests and diseases, agricultural waste management, and use of nano-molecules in addition to some biotechnological tools and policy interventions.