Crop protection stewardship in India: Wanted or unwanted
Use of pesticides in India has substantially increased in recent years. It is increasingly becoming an inevitable input in intensive agriculture systems, which have mainly been fuelled by changes in cropping pattern and practice. Survey results confirmed that there has been a widespread lack of awareness on pesticides and their appropriate handling among the applicators in India. Implementation of alternate pest management strategies to reduce pesticide consumption was found to be ineffective. Pesticide policies must be effectively linked with appropriate pest management strategies in order to achieve systematic reduction in the usage of pesticides for agricultural sustainability.