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In China, pesticide retailers have often been accused of providing inaccurate advice on pesticide use to farmers in a chaotic pesticide market. However, it is unclear whether governmental regulation of sales and advice on pesticide use by pesticide retailers induces them to provide accurate advice.Using survey data of 242 pesticide retailers in 2016, this study analyzes how pesticide retailers in China provide advice on pesticide use to farmers and examines whether governmental regulation induces pesticide retailers to provide accurate advice. The surveyed retailers were found to advise farmers to use the correct active ingredients in only 75.6% of observations. Retailers recommended pesticide application rates higher than the scientifically recommended levels among 57.2% of observations. The bivariate probit model estimation results show that highly intensive governmental regulation increases the probability of correct advice on pesticide use of pesticide retailers in the county and township seats by 13% and 19%, respectively. Moreover, highly intensive regulation can also increase the probability of pesticide non-overuse advice by the retailers from the retailers in the villages by 38%.Highly intensive governmental regulation can induce pesticide retailers to provide more accurate advice on pesticide use to farmers, but the effects differ across the locations of pesticide retailers. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Introduction. Pesticides as biologically active compounds posing potential hazard to worker’s health may cause both acute and chronic occupational poisonings (diseases). Apart from the occupational setting, many people get exposed to pesticides during their use in personal subsidiary plots. Various pesticide application techniques, such as ground-based boom spraying of field crops, air blast spraying of gardens, aerial spraying of fields and forests, treatment of greenhouses, seed dressing, fumigation of grain and warehouses, preparation and application of baits, require a differentiated approach to precautionary measures. Safety use practices for pesticides developed by F.F. Erisman Federal Scientific Center of Hygiene in the past shall be revised to incorporate changes in formulations, techniques, and regulations. Objective. To substantiate hazard-specific safety requirements for various pesticide application techniques and equipment in the agricultural industry. Materials and methods. We analyzed regulatory documents and guidelines, results of our own long-term studies, and publicly available information on the safe use of pesticides in agriculture. Results. Based on our findings, we suggest measures for the safe use of pesticides complying with appropriate regulations for the processed crops and application rules and taking into account conditions of the equipment used. We also provide recommendations for prevention of acute pesticide poisoning for agricultural workers, farmers and users from the standpoint of occupational health. Conclusion. It is important to develop a profound document summarizing occupational safety and health requirements for all pesticide use practices.

Pesticides are widely used to protect food production and meet global food demand but are also ubiquitous environmental pollutants, causing adverse effects on water quality, biodiversity and human health. Here we use a global database of pesticide applications and a spatially explicit environmental model to estimate the world geography of environmental pollution risk caused by 92 active ingredients in 168 countries. We considered a region to be at risk of pollution if pesticide residues in the environment exceeded the no-effect concentrations, and to be at high risk if residues exceeded this by three orders of magnitude. We find that 64% of global agricultural land (approximately 24.5 million km2) is at risk of pesticide pollution by more than one active ingredient, and 31% is at high risk. Among the high-risk areas, about 34% are in high-biodiversity regions, 5% in water-scarce areas and 19% in low- and lower-middle-income nations. We identify watersheds in South Africa, China, India, Australia and Argentina as high-concern regions because they have high pesticide pollution risk, bear high biodiversity and suffer from water scarcity. Our study expands earlier pesticide risk assessments as it accounts for multiple active ingredients and integrates risks in different environmental compartments at a global scale. Pesticide pollution is a risk for two-thirds of agriculture land. A third of high-risk areas are in high-biodiversity regions and a fifth are in low- and lower-middle-income areas, according to environmental modelling combined with pesticide application data.

Pesticide overuse is still prevalent in many developing countries. And improving farmers' pest control ability is considered to be the key to achieve pesticide reduction. Based on the survey data of 822 rice farmers from Hubei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces in the Yangtze River Basin, we demonstrated the impact of pest control ability and technical guidance on farmers' pesticide overuse. We find that rice farmers' insufficient pest control ability does not necessarily lead to pesticide overuse, which depends on whether there is external technical guidance. The technical guidance of government agrotechnical stations and pesticide retailers can weaken pesticide overuse caused by lack of personal ability. In terms of sample, variable and method substitution, the above estimated results are still robust. In addition, we find that different subjects and links of pesticide technical guidance will bring different impacts. The technical guidance of agrotechnical stations mainly plays a role in the time and type of pesticide application, while the pesticide retailers mainly play a role in the time and dosage of pesticide application. This paper emphasizes that strengthening the guidance and regulation of pesticide technology guidance subject is also an efficient way of pesticide reduction. This will help to improve the effect of agricultural extension and accelerate the realization of pesticide reduction target in China.

Termites are major emerging pests of cocoa in Africa. However, their dispersion models on cocoa trees as well as their sampling plans remain unclear. Moreover, the effect of shade trees on the severity of termite infestation on cocoa is poorly known. We evaluated the severity of termite infestation on cocoa trees in relation to shade management in five cocoa agroforestry systems in southern Cameroon with shade cover ranging from rustic to full sun. The dispersion models of termites on cocoa were analyzed using Taylor’s power law, Nachman model and Iwao’s method. We then simulated the optimal sampling sizes for pest monitoring based on parameters of the best-fitted dispersion model using Southwood’s and Green’s formulas. Our results suggest that shade trees reduce belowground infestation by termites and encourage aboveground infestation; however, belowground infestation is more severe. Taylor’s power law was the best-fitted model to describe the aggregative dispersion pattern of termites on cocoa trees. The estimated sampling plans suggested that Green’s sampling was more precise for termites sampling, where less trees is required, than Southwood’s sampling. This study is pioneer on dispersion patterns and sampling plans of termites on cocoa and could be used by researchers and farmers for decision making about pesticide application.

Agricultural technical education is widely used in Chinese agricultural production to reduce farmers’ pesticide overuse. However, the effectiveness of technical education is questioned by scholars ...

The article analyzes the existing various plant protection products to regulate the number of pests. They are an integral part of modern technologies for growing crops. To make the optimal decision on the application of any method of plant protection, it is necessary to consider the agroecosystem as a whole. Over the past two decades, significant changes in weather conditions, their distribution by seasons, have affected not only the quality and environmental friendliness of products, but also the conservation of resources in agri-environmental approaches to agriculture. The advantages and disadvantages of the use of chemical plant protection, which currently dominates in the plant protection system, are presented. The potential of the biological method of plant protection, which is an alternative to chemical in the cultivation of crops, is revealed. Recently, this method is receiving more and more attention due to the fact that the widespread use of chemical methods is a danger to human health and disrupts environmental processes in nature, has a detrimental effect on the beneficial microflora. Consideration of the environmental damage, economic viability and environmental safety of chemical protection measures must be mandatory. Technical, economic and economic efficiency of pesticide application make it possible to evaluate the results of plant protection. Environmental problems arising from the use of pesticides encourage the search for new methods of regulating the number of pests. The new concept of integrated plant protection is the management of population dynamics of harmful and beneficial organisms on the basis of phytosanitary forecasts of different timeliness and purposeful application of modern methods and means of plant protection taking into account environmental protection and use of economic thresholds. The basic principle of nature management should be the ecological and economic principle.

The primary factors that impact food safety are the quality and safety of agricultural products. The quality and safety of agricultural products are closely related to farmers’ decision-making behavior. In addition, the decision-making behavior of the government and consumers is the key factor of farmers’ decision-making behavior. The study explores the ideal state among the government, farmers and consumers to promote the improvement of the quality of agricultural products, thereby contributing to food safety. The study includes the government, farmers and consumers in an evolutionary game model to explore game relationships and evolution paths of decision making among the three stakeholders. The dynamic analysis of the decision replication, the stability analysis of strategy evolution, and the numerical simulation experiment verify the following: the evolutionary process of the decision-making behavior of the three stakeholders to an ideal state is affected by many factors, and the value ranges of the different factors have different impacts on the convergence speed of the three stakeholders to an ideal state; When certain conditions are met, the decision-making behaviors of the three stakeholders can evolve to an ideal state, and effective government supervision can promote the transformation of farmers from nongreen to green pesticide application behavior, and encourage consumers to purchase high-quality agricultural products.

Farmers suffer from injuries and diseases due to extreme pesticide exposure and inadequate knowledge on farming health-safety behaviors. This study focused on developing health and welfare awareness of farmers towards conventional pesticide application. It aimed to identify the level of farmers’ awareness of the negative effects and preventive use of pesticides. One hundred and seventy-five rice and vegetable farmers’ respondents were sampled randomly from selected barangays of San Jose, Camarines Sur. Combinations of internationally published qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilized in this study including survey, interview, and focus group discussion using a standardized questionnaire. The data gathered were tabulated and analyzed by means of descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that farmers who had long exposure to pesticides suffer from skin and respiratory diseases. The majority of the farmers were aware of the health hazards caused by pesticides but refused to wear personal protective gear due to convenience and cost-availability factors. It was suggested that training on proper usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and health welfare awareness campaign must be conducted through extension services by SUC’s and the Department of Agriculture in collaboration with the Rural Health Unit of San Jose, Camarines Sur.

The present study investigated levels of understanding of pesticide handling among the farmers of Punjab by focusing on their ability to understand the information displayed on product labels, which might affect risk reduction. A set of 9 statements were put to the farmers through Google forms during the Covid-19 pandemic period as it was not possible to visit individual farms of the farmers. Basic information about the farmer such as gender, age, educational level, and farming practices (crop types and yields, agrochemical products used etc.) was recorded. A discussion was also performed with individual farmer regarding practices of pesticide application followed. It was found that 27 (24.32 %), 60 (54.10%) and 24 (21.62%) farmers were in the age group of young (up to 30 yr), middle age (30-50 yr ) and elder (>50 yr) , respectively. The land holding status revealed that 46 (41.44%), 32 (28.83%) and 33(29.73%) farmers possessed less than 2 ha, 2 to 4 ha and more than 4 ha. indicating that majority population falls under small land holding ( 50 yr) were either equally or more aware than the younger population. The study revealed that there was no correlation between the land holding, age and awareness level about various pesticides usage and its harmful effects. Hence, it was observed that the education level could have played a significant role in the awareness level of farmers.

Promoting agrochemical reduction is a prerequisite for high-quality development of agriculture. It is still controversial whether Internet use can reduce pesticide use. This study uses the survey data of 670 vegetable growers of two provinces in China, Shandong and Shaanxi. Probit model and bootstrap method were used to analyze the impact of Internet use in reduction of pesticide application by farmers. Shallow use and deep use of the Internet were taken into account. On this basis, multiple mediating effects were tested on the following three aspects: information acquisition ability, awareness of green production, and e-commerce sales capability. The study found that shallow use and deep use of the Internet have a significant direct impact on pesticide reduction by farmers. Information acquisition ability, awareness of green production, and e-commerce sales capability all play a significant positive mediating role in the deep use of the Internet affecting pesticide reduction. However, in the process of shallow use of the Internet affecting pesticide reduction, only the mediating effect of green production awareness is significant. Concurrently, compared with the shallow use of the Internet, the deep use of the Internet has a significant positive impact on rural groups with weak human capital and weak social capital.

Gender plays an important role in agriculture from managing work at the farm field to communicate with buyers. There is a significant division of labor among rice farmers in Nepal; thus, the study was conducted to identify the role of males and females in a farm field and also in decision making and other relevant activities. A random sampling survey was conducted where the respondents aged between 35-55 were highest and 85% of the respondents were males. The area was found to be dominated by the Brahmins. Female workers were found to be involved in highly unskilled work like transplanting, uprooting, weeding, and male workers were found to be involved in decision making, marketing, land preparation, pesticide application. Harvesting was done by females and then threshing by males. Equal involvement of males and females laborers was observed in the irrigation of rice crops. Women's less access to decision making was found to be due to lack of land ownership and lower level of education than those of males. Thus, the need for women empowerment is necessary for the area and also exposure of female labors to different skill-oriented training should be encouraged. The focus of NGOs/ INGOs should be headed to uplift the women's role in farming in Nepal.

The development of agriculture yield is closely related to the use of pesticides. This review categorizes and identifies the pathway of toxicity in the environment and their prevention measures to reduce risks from pesticide use. The inherent properties of selected pesticides released into the environment through different routes such as spray, drift, vaporization, surface run-off, unlawful acts, spills and drainage discharges, and through leaching or soil dust are related to their potential effects on environmental health. The intensive use of various pesticides like BHC, endrin, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, DDT, endosulfan and pyrethroids have harmful effects on non-target organisms and interfere in the development of agriculture crops. The preventive measures for pesticides are the crop rotation, use of protective equipment, integrated pest management, protection and regulation policy in pesticide application. The development of alternatives to pesticides is also needed in order to advance the design of better farming systems. A regular monitoring programme of pest management would help to improve the production of high quality of food as well as to protect the health of the environment and humans.

Rice is a source of staple food whose fulfillment is a basic human right in realizing quality human resources. Therefore, in order to meet food needs, the Indonesian government has conducted various programs to increase production of various food commodities. One of the most important is the increase in national rice production through an intensification and intensification program. Control of plant pests (OPT) is a problem that is often faced by farmers. The use of synthetic pesticides is the easiest step for farmers to take. The use of pesticides in South Manokwari Regency is very high, this can be seen from the presence of kiosks that sell synthetic pesticides with a variety of trademarks, active ingredients and formulators in every agricultural center in the area of ​​South Manokwari Regency. There are 1 distributor and 12 retailers and 148 types of pesticides that have been circulating in the area of ​​South Manokwari Regency. The purpose of this study was to determine the Application of Pesticides and Residue Analysis in Farmer Rice Production in Sidomulyo Village, Oransbari District, South Manokwari District. This research is descriptive with survey techniques, direct interviews to obtain an overview of the application procedures, types, dosages, and frequency of use of pesticides and analyze the accumulation of pesticides in rice. The types of pesticides most widely used by farmers in Sidomulyo village in their efforts to control Plant Pests (OMO) in lowland rice cultivation are Demolish, Resotin and Klensect. The application is carried out by farmers by spraying so that there is direct contact between the control material, the control target and the plants. The dosage used by farmers in control is 300-340 liters / ha with the frequency of spraying 6-7 times each season. The results of the analysis of pesticide residues on rice products from Sidomulyo village farmers show that the residue is below the maximum residue limit set so that the rice produced by these farmers is safe for consumption. The research analysis shows that there is no correlation between the pesticide residues in rice produced by farmers in Sidomulyo village and the types of pesticides used, the frequency of application, the dosage / concentration of pesticides and the application method used by farmers.

Specialty crops, such as apples, are vulnerable to insects and pathogens, and require higher pesticide input than row crops, a significant fraction of which is off-target loss, causing adverse environmental and socio-economic impacts. An advanced laser-guided variable-rate sprayer (VRS) could improve spray deposition uniformity and minimize pesticide waste, while maintaining efficacy against insects and pathogens. Despite these merits, retrofitting a conventional sprayer with laser-guided variable-rate spraying functions adds to its cost. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the techno-economics of a conventional pesticide sprayer retrofitted with VRS, in comparison to a conventional constant-rate sprayer (CRS) for pesticide application during apple production. A techno-economic model was developed for the apple orchards covering areas of 4 and 20 ha, which are common orchard sizes in the USA. The model incorporated cost for operation, equipment, fuel use and labor during pesticide application. The data were obtained from field tests in orchards in Ohio, USA in years 2016 and 2017, literature, and the original VRS development team at USDA-ARS and Ohio State University. The results indicated that VRS can reduce pesticide costs by 60–67%, pesticide application time by 27–32% and labor and fuel by 28% compared to CRS. For larger orchards, VRS also reduced equipment requirement. Compared to CRS, overall annual pesticide application cost savings by using VRS were between $1420 and $1750 ha−1. The payback time for using VRS was estimated to be between 1.1 and 3.8 years for apple orchards between 4 and 20 ha, respectively, in Ohio.

Aphids are the primary vector of plant viruses. Transient aphids, which probe several plants per day, are considered to be the principal vectors of non-persistently transmitted (NPT) viruses. However, resident aphids, which can complete their life cycle on a single host and are affected by agronomic practices, can transmit NPT viruses as well. Moreover, they can interfere both directly and indirectly with transient aphids, eventually shaping plant disease dynamics. By means of an epidemiological model, originally accounting for ecological principles and agronomic practices, we explore the consequences of fertilization and irrigation, pesticide deployment and roguing of infected plants on the spread of viral diseases in crops. Our results indicate that the spread of NPT viruses can be i) both reduced or increased by fertilization and irrigation, depending on whether the interference is direct or indirect; ii) counter-intuitively increased by pesticide application and iii) reduced by roguing infected plants. We show that a better understanding of vectors’ interactions would enhance our understanding of disease transmission, supporting the development of disease management strategies., Author summary A range of both experimental and theoretical studies show that the behaviour and population dynamics of insects depend strongly upon interactions with other insect species. These interactions have the potential to greatly affect the dynamics of insect-vectored plant disease, as transmission of viruses is intimately dependent on the local density of vectors, as well as how they select and move between potential host plants. Surprisingly, the effects of interaction between vector species on epidemics remains little studied and even worse understood, probably because experimentation is costly and difficult. Here, we present a model which permits us to investigate the effect of interaction between a virus, two vector species and the host plant on the spread of viral disease in crops. In this study, our model is used to explore the consequences of common agronomic practices on epidemics. Our study highlights the importance of exploring vectors’ interactions to enhance the understanding of disease transmission, supporting the development of disease management strategies.

Increasing population pressure and decreasing cultivable land brought the agricultural sector at an alarming situation of food production particularly in the developing countries. To feed the burgeoning population, the agriculture sector needs to become more productive and diversified while facing the adversity of climate change and limitations of natural resources. During 1960–70, the improved irrigation facilities, the use of fertilizers and pesticides in the cultivation of high yielding varieties of cereals successfully led to the Green revolution in India. In the present scenario, the low irrigation and fertilizer use efficiencies, poor pesticide application and delivery are amongst the important issues in developing countries that need to be addressed for getting higher productivity. Also, fertilizer and pesticide usage also had severe associated environmental consequences like eutrophication, resistance and resurgence in pest, toxicity to non-target organisms, residues in food and feed, accumulation in the environment, etc. In such conditions, organic farming, a traditional practice coupled with the exploration of bio-nanoparticles to achieve a sustainable production system seems to be a better option. This review focuses on current research developments in the areas of bio-nano-enabled crop nutrition, protection, post-harvest management, and the possibility of bio-nanomaterials and organic farming confluence to revolutionize the agricultural sector by ensuring sustainable food security for coming generations.

In agricultural landscapes, the amount and organization of crops and semi-natural habitats (SNH) have the potential to promote a bundle of ecosystem services due to their influence on ecological community at multiple spatio-temporal scales. SNH are relatively undisturbed and are often source of complementary resources and refuges, therefore supporting more diverse and abundant natural pest enemies. However, the nexus of SNH proportion and organization with pest suppression is not trivial. It is thus crucial to understand how the behavior of pest and natural enemy species, the underlying landscape structure, and their interaction, may influence conservation biological control (CBC). Here, we develop a generative stochastic landscape model to simulate realistic agricultural landscape compositions and configurations of fields and linear elements. Generated landscapes are used as spatial support over which we simulate a spatially explicit predator-prey dynamic model. We find that increased SNH presence boosts predator populations by sustaining high predator density that regulates and keeps pest density below the pesticide application threshold. However, predator presence over all the landscape helps to stabilize the pest population by keeping it under this threshold, which tends to increase pest density at the landscape scale. In addition, the joint effect of SNH presence and predator dispersal ability among hedge and field interface results in a stronger pest regulation, which also limits pest growth. Considering properties of both fields and linear elements, such as local structure and geometric features, provides deeper insights for pest regulation; for example, hedge presence at crop field boundaries clearly strengthens CBC. Our results highlight that the integration of species behaviors and traits with landscape structure at multiple scales is necessary to provide useful insights for CBC., Author summary In the agricultural context, the loss of semi-natural surfaces often results in high pest abundance requiring elevated pesticide loads. Habitat heterogeneity resulting from the agricultural intermixing of arable fields and semi-natural areas is key to allow organism fluxes across agro-ecological interfaces by influencing ecological processes. Semi-natural habitats (SNH) are often restricted to linear structures, such as hedgerows, but they play an important role by hosting a large number of species. However, the effect of hedgerows is controversial, as it could result in a positive, ineffective or negative effect for CBC. Usually, the impacts of landscape structure on pest population dynamics and resulting CBC are assessed through field experiments with a specific focus, which cannot be generalized, lack flexibility and are limited by the need to manipulate relatively large landscapes. Here, we tackle the challenge to investigate the controversial role of semi-natural habitats for CBC by presenting a simulation-based approach, which allows us to characterize the joint influence of landscape structure and species traits on CBC service. Our study corroborates that spatial heterogeneity, species traits and their interactions are fundamental for CBC. We show that hedge presence alone is not sufficient to lead to strong pest reduction, but hedge-based predators help to maintain the pest density under the pesticide threshold. Instead, SNH presence coupled with appropriate predator traits leads to stronger decrease of pest population. Moreover, we highlight an important scaling effect of SNH, which at the local scale has an even more important impact on CBC as local properties are considered.

Notwithstanding popular perception, the environmental impacts of organic agriculture, particularly with respect to pesticide use, are not well established. Fueling the impasse is the general lack of data on comparable organic and conventional agricultural fields. We identify the location of ~9,000 organic fields from 2013 to 2019 using field-level crop and pesticide use data, along with state certification data, for Kern County, CA, one of the US’ most valuable crop producing counties. We parse apart how being organic relative to conventional affects decisions to spray pesticides and, if spraying, how much to spray using both raw and yield gap-adjusted pesticide application rates, based on a global meta-analysis. We show the expected probability of spraying any pesticides is reduced by about 30 percentage points for organic relative to conventional fields, across different metrics of pesticide use including overall weight applied and coarse ecotoxicity metrics. We report little difference, on average, in pesticide use for organic and conventional fields that do spray, though observe substantial crop-specific heterogeneity., There is much uncertainty on use and impact of pesticides in organic agriculture. Here, the authors compare pesticide use in conventionally and organically managed fields in Kern County (US), finding that organic fields are less likely to be treated but, when they are, they receive similar pesticide amount as the conventional fields.

Thailand is known for its agricultural productivity and rice exportation. Most farms use small machines and manual labor, creating potential exposure to multiple health hazards. A cross-sectional study was conducted to measure pollutants liberated during preparation, pesticide application, and harvesting. Thirty rice farmers, mostly males from 41 to 50 years old, participated. The participant survey data showed that 53.3% of the respondents spent &gt, 2 h per crop on preparation, &lt, 1 h on pesticide application, and about 1–2 h harvesting, 86.7% of the respondents maintained and stored mechanical applicators at home, suggesting possible after-work exposures. Gloves, fabric masks, boots, and hats were worn during all activities, and &gt, 90% wore long sleeved shirts and pants. VOCs and SVOCs were collected using charcoal tubes and solid phase micro sample extraction (SPME). An analysis of the charcoal and SPME samplers found that 30 compounds were detected overall and that 10 were in both the charcoal tubes and SPME samplers. The chemicals most often detected were 1, 1, 1 Trichloro ethane and xylene. Additionally, farmers experienced the highest exposure to particulates during harvesting. These results demonstrated that farmers experience multiple exposures while farming and that risk communication with education or training programs may mitigate exposure.

The rate of pesticide application in the agricultural field is surging. Farmers are getting exposed to pesticide hazards from the misuse and unsafe handling of pesticides. The study was conducted among 101 potato growers in Kaverpalanchok district of Nepal in 2018. The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge, status, and pesticide handling practices among potato growers. Around 94% farmers applied pesticides against early and late blight. Only 5% growers treated seed before potato sowing. About 93 and 73% farmers sprayed pesticides 2-10 times/season into the field and spent 2-6 hours/pesticide spray respectively. More than 2/3rd growers did not read the pesticide labels, and nearly 95% growers received information on pesticide applications from agrovet rather than authorized government bodies. Only 13% farmers had received Integrated Pest Management (IPM) training. However, 1/4th of them had practiced IPM techniques. The majority of the growers used masks, rubber boots, and long-sleeved clothes during pesticide handling. Nearly 2/3rd growers threw pesticide containers anywhere in the environment. Concerned authorities should provide IPM training, skill-building programs on pesticide handling and awareness on waiting period and environmental hazards to avoid pesticide risk.

In this study, artificial intelligence and image recognition technologies are combined with environmental sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) for pest identification. Real-time agricultural meteorology and pest identification systems on mobile applications are evaluated based on intelligent pest identification and environmental IoT data. We combined the current mature AIoT technology and deep learning and applied it to smart agriculture. We used deep learning YOLOv3 for image recognition to obtain the location of Tessaratoma papillosa and analyze the environmental information from weather stations through Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to predict the occurrence of pests. The experimental results showed that the pest identification accuracy reached 90%. Precise positioning can effectively reduce the amount of pesticides used and reduce pesticide damage to the soil. The current research provides the location of the pest and the extent of the pests to farmers can accurately use pesticide application at a precise time and place and thus reduce the agricultural workforce required for timely pest control, thus achieving the goal of smart agriculture. The proposed system notifies farmers of the presence of different pests before they start multiplying in large numbers. It improves overall agricultural economic value by providing appropriate pest control methods that decrease crop losses and reduce the environmental damage caused by the excessive usage of pesticides.

In Bihar 90 per cent farmers are small holder farmers. Small Holder farmers are future of world agriculture to feed mammoth population. Being the small holder farmers are resource poor, it becomes imperative to study their information sources and need to support better decision making in farming. The study was conducted in Bihar Province of India among seven hundred twenty farmers. From the study it was noted that the major information needs of the farmers were seed availability, crop disease management, insect pest management, weed management and weather information and pesticide application. Farmers decision making was positively and significantly correlated with crop disease management(0.196*), insect pest management of crop (0.208*) and weed management (0.239**). Through the Path Analysis it was noted that farmers decision making on disease management was mediated by the information sources-agri-input dealers, Progressive Farmer, Bihar Agricultural University-Kisan Diary, Mobile Apps (Bihar Krishi Apps) and Kisan Salahkar. On an average, farmers used three to four information sources in decision of farming. ICT tools are becoming emerging information sources for the farmers. It can be concluded that these much needed information should be provided to the farmers though different ICT tools and extension personnel should be trained to operate these ICT tools for accelerated use of ICT tools by the farmers in their decision making.

Relevance. Ukraine actively exports its agricultural products to the markets of Europe and the world. The growth rate of agricultural exports from Ukraine to the EU in May 2019 was 49.9%. Objective was to analyze and hygienically evaluate changes in the assortment and ranges of pesticide application in Ukrainian agriculture over the last 5 years (from 2015 to 2019). Materials and methods. The object of our research was changes in the assortment and ranges of pesticide application in Ukrainian agriculture from 2015 to 2019. Growth and growth rates were calculated. Results. Herbicides are leaders among the pesticides authorized for use in Ukraine: in 2019 their fraction was 56 % of the total (321 formulations). The following in number are fungicides: in 2019 – 25 % (147 formulations); and in third place are insecticides and acaricides: 19 % (107 formulations). Most of all classes’ pesticides are monoformulations. Their growth rate from 2015 to 2019 was 93 %, increasing rate - 52%. In second place - combined formulations with two active substances: their number during 2015-2019 increased by 42%. For pesticides with three active substances, the growth rate from 2015 to 2019 was 145%. Also in 2017 there were herbicide formulations with four active substances, but their number is insignificant: in 2017 – 2, in 2019 – 3 formulations. Conclusion. It was found that in the period from 2015 to 2019, the increase of all chemical plant protection products was 47%. The tendency towards an increase in different classes of pesticides does not change significantly every year and the leaders among them are herbicides, second place is occupied by fungicides and third – by insecticides and acaricides. Pesticides with one active substance (monoformulations) predominate.

Digital agriculture predetermines the development of robotic agricultural technologies for the application of pesticides and fertilizers using unmanned aerial systems, which are based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with a certain working load for monitoring agricultural land and applying agrochemicals. ( Research purpose ) To develop a technology for variable-rate application of pesticides and fertilizers using unmanned aerial vehicles in digital agriculture. ( Materials and methods ) In the process of study, the authors used the methodological recommendations on the application of chemicals in the precision farming system (offered by VIM), as well as the normative and technical documentation for unmanned aircraft systems. ( Results and discussion ) It was shown that the developed technology includes the sequential execution of information and technological operations in off-line and on-line modes. It was found that the application rate of the liquid pesticides of 10-20 liters per hectare reduces losses due to drift from the treatment area and ensures the highest productivity of pesticide application using unmanned aerial vehicles. It was determined that the field processing performance increases as the run length increases, and decreases with the increasing flow rate of the liquid chemical. The rational run length was established to equal 0.8-3.2 kilometers. The authors established requirements for the spraying quality of unmanned aerial vehicles. It was proved that to increase the productivity of unmanned aerial vehicles during plant top-dressing, it is necessary to use unmanned aerial vehicles with a larger working load of 300-400 kilograms. ( Conclusions ) The authors have developed a technology for variable-rate application of pesticides and fertilizers using unmanned aerial vehicles, algorithms for preparing them for flight, monitoring agricultural lands, making a field orthophotomap, electronic maps of vegetation indices, the phytosanitary status of crops, and variable-rate application of pesticides and fertilizers.

BACKGROUND Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used in agriculture to collect imagery for crop and pest monitoring, and for decision‐making purposes. Spraying‐capable UAVs are now commercially available worldwide for agricultural applications. Combining UAV weed mapping and UAV sprayers into an UAV integrated system (UAV‐IS) can offer a new alternative to implement site‐specific pest management. RESULTS The UAV‐IS was 0.3‐ to 3‐fold more efficient at identifying and treating target weedy areas, while minimizing treatment on non‐weedy areas, than ground‐based broadcast applications. The UAV‐IS treated 20–60% less area than ground‐based broadcast applications, but also missed up to 26% of the target weedy area, while broadcast applications covered almost the entire experimental area and only missed 2–3% of the target weeds. The efficiency of UAV‐IS management practices increased as weed spatial aggregation increased (patchiness). CONCLUSION Integrating UAV imagery for pest mapping and UAV sprayers can provide a new strategy for integrated pest management programs to improve efficiency and efficacy while reducing the amount of pesticide being applied. The UAV‐IS has the potential to improve the detection and control of weed escapes to reduce/delay herbicide resistance evolution. © 2019 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry., The integration of UAVs for weed and pest detection with currently commercially available UAV sprayers can increase the efficiency of pesticide applications and help manage pesticide resistance.

Quantifying and comparing sustainability indicators are essential to improve the sustainability of smallholder rice cropping systems. The sustainability of rice production systems can be measured based on economic, environmental, social, and institutional indicators. In this paper, we restrict our assessment to economic and environmental indicators. During 2012–2015, farmers were interviewed from 847 households from intensively irrigated rice production regions in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and China. We assessed the sustainability of their farming practices using economic and environmental indicators, i.e., eight of the 12 performance indicators (PIs), as defined by the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP). Across the six sites, there was a yield gap of 24–42% and a profit gap of 36–82% between the 10% highest-performing farms (mean of top decile) and the mean-performing farms. In addition, there was a labor productivity gap of 12–32%, a nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) gap of 11–20%, a phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) gap of 1–29%, and a water productivity gap of 12–42%. Deliberate modification of conventional practices, including not flooding the field for >30 days before rice planting, incorporating pre-rice crop residue >30 days before planting, and adoption of mid-season drainage or alternate wetting and drying irrigation rather than continuous flood irrigation during the rice growing period, could substantially reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in irrigated rice fields without yield penalty. There is an urgent need to adopt improved management strategies for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) fertilizer, irrigation water-use efficiency, as well as for decreasing pesticide use frequency, without sacrificing profitability and yield. We identified the following priority interventions for each site: a) increasing fertilizer use and adopting higher-yielding varieties in Bago, Myanmar; b) reducing pesticide application rates in Can Tho, Vietnam; c) reducing fertilizer use in Guangdong, China; d) reducing nitrogen and labor use in Yogyakarta, Indonesia; e) reducing fertilizer and water use in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka and; f) reducing fertilizer use in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. Additional uses of the PI analysis clearly demonstrated that rice yield and profit gaps can sustainably be closed by increasing efficiencies that will also lead to reduced environmental footprint.

La provincia de Neuquén está ubicada al oeste de Argentina, en el extremo norte de la Patagonia. En esta provincia, la información sobre la distribución y calidad de las aguas subterráneas es muy escasa y el monitoreo de la calidad de los recursos hídricos no se realiza periódicamente. Es bien sabido que en esta región se aplican varias familias de pesticidas, tales como organofosforados, carbamatos y neonicotinoides, para mantener la calidad y la producción de los cultivos. La aplicación de pesticidas por equipos de pulverización en tierra, las condiciones climáticas y las propiedades físicas y químicas de estos compuestos, facilitan que una fracción sustancial del ingrediente activo pueda llegar a las fuentes de aire, suelo y agua. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la presencia de plaguicidas en aguas subterráneas, con el fin de proporcionar información sobre la calidad del agua para consumo humano. Diecisiete organofosforados y cuatro carbamatos fueron monitoreados entre 2014 y 2015 por cromatografía de gases con detector de nitrógeno-fósforo, en muestras de aguas subterráneas recogidas de pozos profundos ubicados en zonas rurales correspondientes a las ciudades de Senillosa, Plottier, Vista Alegre y Centenario, en la provincia de Neuquén. Estas ciudades son zonas agrícolas intensivas, que abastecen a la región norte de Patagonia con frutas y verduras frescas, y donde el agua subterránea se utiliza para consumo humano. En este estudio, la concentración de organofosforados y carbamatos fue menor a 0.020 y 0.030 μg/L, respectivamente, e inferior a los límites aceptables establecidos por la guías para la calidad del agua potable de Canadá (2017) y de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (2011) para estos plaguicidas. Neuquén province is located in the west of Argentina, at the northern end of Patagonia. In this province, information regarding groundwater distribution and quality is very scarce, and the monitoring of water resources quality is not carried out periodically. It is well known that several pesticide families, such us organophosphates, carbamates and neonicotinoids, are applied in this region to maintain crop quality and production. Pesticide application by ground-based spraying equipment, the climatic conditions and the physical and chemical properties of these compounds, facilitate that a substantial fraction of the active ingredient may reach air, soil and water sources. The objective of this study was to evaluate the pesticide presence in groundwater, in order to provide information about the water quality for human consumption. Seventeen organophosphate and four carbamate residues were monitored from 2014 to 2015 by gas chroma-tography with a nitrogen-phosphorus detector, in groundwater samples collected from depth wells, located in rural areas corresponding to Senillosa, Plottier, Vista Alegre and Centenario cities, in Neuquén province. These cities are intensive agricultural areas, which supply the North Patagonia region with fresh fruits and vegetables, and where groundwater is utilized for human consumption. In this study, organophosphate and carbamate concentrations were below 0.020 and 0.030 µg/L, respectively, and lower than the accepted limits established by the Guidelines for Canadian drinking water quality (2017) and the Guidelines for drinking water quality (2011) of the World Health Organization for these pesticides. Fil: Sánchez, Victoria Guadalupe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Química; Argentina Fil: Gutiérrez, César Argentino. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Cordoba. Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Manfredi. Agencia de Extension Rural San Francisco.; Argentina Fil: Gomez, Diego Sebastian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias del Ambiente y la Salud. Departamento de Ciencias del Ambiente; Argentina Fil: Loewy, Ruth Miriam. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue; Argentina Fil: Guiñazu Alaniz, Natalia Lorena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias del Ambiente y la Salud. Departamento de Ciencias del Ambiente; Argentina

Knowledge regarding the concentration levels resulting from the use of agricultural pesticides may indicate the nature of the controls necessary to reduce environmental and human health risks to an acceptable level. Therefore, the main goal of the present work was to assess the spatial and temporal occurrence of 35 pesticides in the River Sado estuary (Portugal) in 2017 and evaluate its environmental condition, as data for estuarine ecosystems is scarce. Since pesticides are very susceptible to matrix effects promoted by environmental samples, to attain the main goal, we developed a fast and almost solvent-free environmentally friendly method with a good performance for both estuarine surface water and sediment samples. Quantified residues were determined mostly during summer, in line with the pesticide application period. Five herbicides (alachlor, bentazon, metobromuron, metribuzin and triclopyr) were measured in the water before and after the production season, suggesting a long-term aquatic exposure. Sediment samples were less contaminated, since a lower number of quantified pesticides were found in the study area, in lower frequencies and lower concentrations. No potential high adverse effects of the use of agricultural pesticides were expected on the aquatic organisms of the Sado estuary, even considering the potential combination effect of pesticide mixtures.

Pest and disease are limiting factors in red chili cultivation. Chili farmers often use synthetic pesticides to control pest and disease However, improper application of pesticide can cause deleterious effects to human and environment. The objective of research was to know the level of red chilli farmers understanding regarding pesticides use. This research was conducted in Bumijawa Subdistrict, Tegal District by interviewing farmers. A total number of 140 farmers were purposely selected and divided into 4 groups, namely integrated pest management (IPM) monoculture, non IPM monoculture, IPM multiple cropping, and non IPM multiple cropping. Data analysis was performed using cross tabulation for likert scale questionnaire and Rank Spearman to analyze the relation among variables. Results showed that all four farmer groups had similar characteristics, i.e age range of 20-65 years, dominance of elementary school graduates, and more than 10 years of farming experience. These group of farmers had positive score for application and safety principle of pesticide but they still had negative score on ecological aspect. Farmer’s age, level of education, and farming experience did not affect the knowledge of non IPM monoculture and IPM monoculture groups. The level of education in non IPM multiple cropping group affected the application of pesticides. Farmer’s knowledge on pesticides usage and its safety application had significant correlation with farmer age and farming experience for IPM multiple cropping group.

Background Quantification of spray deposition on a target crop is of vital importance to optimize pesticide application. In traditional determinations of spray deposition, a large amount of organic solvent is used to extract pesticides from the target crops. In this study, a water-soluble food dye of Allura Red was developed as a tracer to determine pesticide spray deposition on a rice target crop. Results The addition of Allura Red does not obviously alter the physicochemical properties of pesticides (viscosity, density and surface tension) and droplet spectra. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) analytical method was developed and validated to determine the deposition amount of Allura Red on rice plants. Method accuracy and precision for Allura Red were found to be satisfactory with recoveries of 96.07% to 107.48%. To validate the method, comparative deposition analyses were carried out using representative systematic and non-systematic pesticides (nitenpyram and chlorothalonil) under the same spraying scenarios using a Potter spray tower. Allura Red and pesticides showed comparable deposition under the same application conditions with ratios from 0.98 to 1.21. A field trial using an unmanned aerial vehicle sprayer further indicated that the deposition rates for Allura Red and nitenpyram on rice seedling were 13.04% and 11.07%, with corresponding relative standard deviation values (n = 5) of 16.39% and 18.79%. Conclusion A laboratory test and field trial confirmed that the developed method of using Allura Red as a tracer for spray deposition assessment is feasible and practicable. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.