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Source: Dhaliwal and Arora (2000).

Year           Cost of cultivation                    Cost of insecticides

                          (Rs/ha)                        Value (Rs/ha)            As percentage of cost                                                                                                           cultivation

  1974-75

  1979-80

  1984-85

  1989-90

  1994-95

   1394-80

   1531.82

   2642.93

   4199.37

   17311.03

      30.42

      70.17

      314.67

      651.91

      2243.19

                    2.1

                    4.6

                    11.9

                    15.5

                    13.0
Skip Navigation Links Skip Navigation Links Skip Navigation Links Skip Navigation Links PESTICIDE PARADOX Pesticides have emerged as a source of great harm to human health, production and preservation of food, fibre and other cash crops. The indiscriminate use of pesticides in intensive agriculture has created many ecological, environmental and social problems. Insecticides have played a major role in increasing cotton productivity, mainly because of various constraints in the adoption of cultural practices, non-availability of resistant varieties with good yield potential and lack of efficient bio-control agents. Exploitation of insecticides increased further with the release of high yielding varieties, which were mire susceptible to insect pests. As a result, the cotton crop is grown under an insecticide umbrella. The cost of insecticides as a percentage of cost of the total cotton cultivation in Punjab, has increased fron 2.1 per cent in 1974-75 to nearly 13 per cent in 1994-95 (Table 5). However, excessive and indiscriminate use of insecticides, since the last two decades has so adversely affected the cotton ecosystem, that a slight disturbance leads to outbreak of one or more pests in one or the other zone. Consumption Pattern Cost of Cultivation and Value of Insecticides Used on cotton crop in Punjab The total amount of pesticides used in India increased from 154 metric.