How pesticides can be used for safe environment

As much as the benefits derived from its use can increase farm productivity, if used irresponsibly, pesticides have the potential to cause harm to the environment but when proper practices are observed the environmental risk are minimal.
But, the impact on the misuse of pesticides on health and the environment cannot be overemphasised especially in a developing country like Nigeria where there are less stringent regulatory controls and less effective implementation of laws on public health and environment.
To this end, the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) recently at a workshop held in Makurdi, Benue State, harped on the need to secure the environment by educating farmers that pesticides are hazardous because many of them might not be aware of the actual risks involved.
The council in the process of the sensitisation also warned unscrupulous retailers to desist from selling banned and substandard pesticides to unsuspecting members of the public or risk the wrath of the law.
Director General of CPC, Mrs. Gloria Atoki said that the warning at the one-day workshop entitled, “Responsible Use of Pesticides for Consumer Safety” organised by the council in collaboration with the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) had become imperative in view of incidences linked to wrong use of the chemical product.
According to her, many acute examples of  poisoning linked to the misuse of  pesticides abound – the death of a family of five at Kobi village in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),  another family in Port-Harcourt and the school children incidence in Yola, Adamawa State – yet people peddle the products all over the street without any control.
She said that the workshop is a proactive step to ensure the safety of every consumer and the sustainability of the environment in order to contain the menace of negative occurrence of food poisoning and even deaths traceable to wrong usage of pesticides by farmers as well as other consumers in the country.
Atoki also pointed out the need for consumers to know their rights and how to seek redress at no cost through the council when those rights are infringed upon by promoters of substandard, fake or counterfeit pesticides.
According to her, the consumers have the responsibility to be alert by questioning the quality and safety of goods and services which they purchase to enable them understand their environment and the consequences of their consumption.
The director-general therefore urged participants to put into practice lessons learnt from the various papers presented at the workshop so that they can safely handle pesticides from the stage of purchase through calibration and dilution to application, storage, transportation and disposal in order to safeguard the people’s health and the environment.
At the end, stakeholders, especially farmers who turned out in large number expressed satisfaction with the eye opening brainstorming sessions where experts threw more light on questions asked.
One of the stakeholders, Francis Ekoja, told our correspondent that he had been greatly educated and equipped with basic information on how to purchase and make safe use of pesticides to secure his immediate environment and to preserve same for future generations.