Pesticides: Impacts on Agriculture Productivity, Environment, and Management Strategies

Pesticides are noxious organic and inorganic compounds used to kill or restrict the population expansion of harmful organisms. Pesticides have been used for a long period to kill pests and protect crops. Pesticides have been in use since the early 1940s, when dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was first launched, ushering in a new era in man’s struggle against pests and pathogens. Pesticide technologies have continued to generate a wide range of pesticides, providing adequate food supply to meet consumer demand, and these pesticides are considered an important tool for crop protection and growth, but they are harmful to the environment. Pesticide overuse can lead to biodiversity loss and destruction. Biodiversity is critical to human survival on our planet. Pesticides are harmful to a variety of creatures, including birds, aquatic animals, and mammals. Pesticides are a key source of anxiety for the long-term survival of our planet. This chapter will discuss the pesticide groups, their use, and impact on the environment. This chapter also discusses pesticide contamination and the long-term consequences of pesticides on the entire ecosystem. An alternative pest management and control strategy, such as integrated pest management (IPM), can be helpful to minimize the number and volume of pesticide treatments by integrating several control measures, like cultural control, the use of resistant genotypes, and physico-mechanical control along with chemical control. Furthermore, advances in biotechnology and nanotechnology may make it simpler to develop herbicides with fewer adverse effects or resistant genotypes along with a lower dose of herbicides.