FAQs

Any organisms that cause economic damage is pest i.e. any animal or plant causing harm or damage to man, his crops or possessions even if just causing annoyance.

In broader sense, it can be defined as methods to prevent the increment in the number of pest to a certain limit to minimize the damage or loss to crops.

Pesticides are chemical compounds that are used to kill pests, including insects, rodents, fungi and unwanted plants (weeds). But it could have harmful effects if handled irrationally.

A pheromone is a chemical or a mixture of chemicals released by an organism in the environment that cause specific reaction in a receiving organism of the same species.

There are 24 banned pesticides in Nepal. Chlorodane, D.D.T, Dialdirn, Aldrin, Indrin, Heptachlor, Mirex, Toxaphen, B.H.C, Lindane, Phosphamidon, Organo mercury compound, Methyl parathion, Monochrotophos, Endosulfan, Phorate, Dichlorovos (Nuvan), Carbofuran, carbafyl, benoomyl, Trizophos, Carbosulfan, Dicofyl, Almunium phosphate (3 g.m tablets)

Pesticide labels indicate the information about the hazardous property of the pesticide. WHO has classified pesticides according to its toxicity as summarized below:

Classification of pesticides on the basis of toxicity

There are four different labels of pesticides. On the basis of their toxicity they are labelled as red, yellow, blue, and green. Red labelled pesticide is the most hazardous and green label is the least one.

IPM stands for the Integrated Pest Management (IPM). It is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of common-sense practices. IPM programs use current, comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment.

Triple-Rinsing is a 3-stage manual rinsing process that has been proven as the best method for cleaning empty agrochemical containers. Triple- Rinsing means rinsing the container three times. Triple-rinsing can be used with plastic, non- pressurized metal, and glass containers.

A Farmer Field School is also called a school without walls, which teaches basic agroecology and crop management skills to the participants. A group of farmers gets together in one of their own field where real field problems are observed, recorded and analyzed from planting to harvest of the crop. Participants set up numbers of comparative studies and other supportive trials in the field. Participatory discussions, group decisions and agro-ecosystem analysis (AESA) are the fundamentals of IPM-FFS. The FFS was developed to help farmers adopt their IPM practices to diverse and dynamic ecological conditions. Farmer field schools not only provide specific technical skills but also organizational skills and practice, analytical skills and practice, and basic group assets such as trust and confidence required for joint enterprises.

Waiting period is the duration to wait after the spray of pesticides to crops till the period of its harvesting.