Grains, milk and proteins, which are vital to childhood development, are more widely available because of lower costs to produce food and animal feed. Fruits and vegetables, which provide essential nutrients, are more abundant and affordable. They also help farmers provide an abundance of nutritious, all-year-round foods, which are necessary for human health. The insects commonly aimed at are mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, bugs, etc. Insecticides are agents used to kill or repel the insects present in a vicinity. Pesticides enable farmers to produce safe, quality foods at affordable prices. Insecticides and Pesticides are some of the most toxic chemicals used in the present world regularly. To reduce hunger, we need to increase food productivity. Pesticides can prolong the life of crops and prevent post-harvest losses.Ĭurrently, about 925 million people around the world – one in seven of us – are going hungry. And threats don’t stop once crops leave fields – bugs, molds and rodents can all cause damage in storage. Benefits of Pesticidesįood crops must compete with 30,000 species of weeds, 3,000 species of worms and 10,000 species of plant-eating insects. 2 Without crop protection, these losses could easily double.

Between 26 and 40 percent of the world’s potential crop production is lost annually because of weeds, pests and diseases. Without the use of pesticides, more than half of our crops would be lost to pests and diseases. But both synthetic and natural pesticides have various levels of toxicity. They help farmers grow more food on less land by protecting crops from pests, diseases and weeds as well as raising productivity. The difference is organic farmers can only use pesticides from natural sources. Whether from synthetic or natural sources, pesticides are used by all farmers. All farmers use pesticides, including organic farmers.

Insecticides and pesticides