Farmers\' Perception on Environmental Effects of Pesticide Use, Climate Change And Strategies Used in Mountain of Western Himalaya

The study was conducted to evaluate farmers’ perception on environmental effects of pesticide use in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh. The study was based on primary data collected from the farmers who involved in pesticides use in high value cash crops like apple and vegetables. The multistage sampling was used to select 100 farmers from the study area. Percentages and bar diagrams were used to describe the result. The findings of the study shown that the perception on various aspects of pesticide usage the farmers of large farm have more awareness than farmers of small farm. Majority of the farmers were dependent only on farming for their livelihood. To increase their production farmers were doing excessive and indiscriminate use of pesticides on both farms. More than four-fifths of the farmers responded that productivity was decreasing and 94.51 per cent of the farmers responded that cost of production was increasing. All the farmers responded that climate and lack of pollination were the main factors which affecting productivity of crops. All the farmers were underestimating the use of pesticides which make an increase in agricultural production and productivity and have adverse effect on the human health and the ecosystem. The response of farmers for the adoption of strategies to minimize adverse effect of climate change and loss of natural resource base were reported more on large farms than small farms. The study has concluded that there is a need to pay attention towards promoting scientific and rational use of pesticides and other agro-chemicals to avoid environmental effects and to promote organic agrochemicals for restoring soil heath, protecting human health and to minimize loss of biodiversity to save the livelihoods of farmers. The government should undertake policy measures to strengthen extension facilities to educate farmers about environmental effects of agro-chemicals and climate change.