Environmental Impact of Pesticides Usage on Farmlands in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper has appraised the use of pesticides on farmlands and stored food crops in Nigeria by reviewing relevant related works. The paper has discovered that the ease, availability, affordability and effectiveness of pesticides have led to increased usage by farmers to control pests that ravage their farm produce. Unfortunately, in an attempt to solve the pest’s problem, the indiscriminate use of these chemicals are gradually destroying the environment, posing serious threats to human health, animal life, plant forms, soil and water; leading to emergence of resilient species of life forms that are becoming resistant to fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. The paper has recommended legislative measures and mass public enlightenment on the necessity of reducing the pesticides usage in sensitive areas, reversion to traditional methods of hand hoeing and hand weeding as well as other relevant measures aimed at forestalling further degradation of the environment that feeds, cloths and accommodates the present generation and the generation yet to be born.