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Regional rice output threatened by pesticide overuse
Agence France Presse - March 6, 2011
The unbridled manufacture and use of pesticides in Asia is raising the specter of "pest storms" devastating the region's rice farms and threatening food security, scientists have warned.
Increased production of cheap pesticides in China and India, lax regulation and inadequate farmer education are destroying ecosystems around paddies, allowing pests to thrive and multiply, they said.
The pests – if left unchecked – could lay waste to vast tracts of Asia's rice farms, according to scientists who took part in a workshop in Singapore last week.
"There is increasing concern that the more we use pesticides in rice fields, it is actually making the pest problem worse," Australian scientist George Lukacs said.
Under pressure to raise yields to meet growing demand, poorly trained farmers tend to be over-reliant on the chemicals. "There are big outbreaks of pests or what they are calling in China 'pest storms' as a result of the over-application of pesticides," Lukacs said.
Rice is a staple throughout much of Asia, including the world's two most populous countries, China and India, making the region vulnerable to soaring food prices and supply problems, economists say.
The UN food agency has said world food prices have already hit record highs and warned oil price spikes caused by upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa could push them even higher.
The Food Price Index, which monitors average monthly price changes for a variety of key staples, rose to 236 points in February from 231 points in January, the highest level since the Food and Agriculture Organization began monitoring prices in 1990.
Lukacs said Asia's rice supply was made more vulnerable by the reliance on a small number of varieties, meaning if a particular pest gets a foothold in a crop, it could spread rapidly.
The workshop was held as part of preparations for next year's meeting in Bucharest of the Ramsar Convention, an inter-governmental treaty on the conservation and wise use of the world's wetlands – including rice paddies – and their resources.
Lukacs, senior principal research scientist with the Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research at James Cook University, said responsibility lies with the pesticide companies, governments and communities.
Once a pesticide is registered with a country's national authority, there is no monitoring of how it is used, he said. He said the industry was "remarkably unregulated. Beyond the registration, it's the Wild, Wild West."
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