Belize to celebrate pesticides awareness week 2018

Posted: Monday, October 22, 2018. 2:54 pm CST.

By BBN Staff: The Pesticides Control Board was established on December 31, 1988, under the Ministry responsible for Agriculture for the regulation of pesticides in Belize.

This week, the Pesticides Control Board of Belize joins other members of the Coordinating Group of Pesticides Control Boards of the Caribbean (CGPC) in the regional observation of Pesticides Awareness Week 2018 under the theme: Increase Food Safety, Reduce Reliance on Pesticides, Adopt Integrated Pest Management (IPM)!

Pesticides kill pests and are also the natural enemies of pests. If overused, it can harm farmers, consumers, and the environment.

A healthy agro-ecosystem is essential for sustainable crop production.

Over-reliance on pesticides impairs the natural crop eco-system balance causing outbreaks of secondary pests and contributing to a vicious cycle of pest resistance and further pesticide overuse.

In well-managed farming systems, crop losses to insects can often be kept to an acceptable minimum by:

 Using resistant varieties

 Conserving predators

 Managing crop nutrient levels to reduce insect reproduction

Recommended measures against diseases include:

 Use of clean planting material

 Crop rotation to suppress pathogens

 Eliminating infected host plants

Effective weed management entails:

 Timely manual weeding

 Minimized tillage and

 Use of high-residue cover crops

When necessary, lower risk synthetic pesticides should be used only for targeted control in the right quantity and at the right time!

The Pesticides Control Board of Belize promotes integrated pest management under its good pesticide management program in collaboration with partners through Farmer Field Schools.

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