Exploring the Benefits and Alternatives of Pesticides

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Benefits of pesticides One of the benefits of using pesticides is to kill pesticides and worms that feed on the crops. Pesticides have been used in public health, forestry, agriculture, and domestic sphere. One of the main reasons why pesticides are used is to increase farm yields. Agricultural chemicals have contributed to the increased crop production. The second benefit of pesticides is the protection of crops from diseases. Weeds have been a great deal to farmers because they decrease crop productivity. In this situation, a farmer would choose to use herbicides to kill the weeds. Insecticides are used to kill vector based diseases. Malaria is one of the leading diseases that is caused by mosquitoes which can be killed using insecticides (Levine 277)
Alternatives to pesticides With the increased growth of the organic market, farmers have taken a lot of interest in finding other ways to control pests and diseases. The use of pesticides has led to great disasters on the soil, health, and food for the consumers. This and many other factors have made people come up with alternatives to control pests. Sustainable agriculture is a new way that will help solve the pesticide issue. Alternative measures that can be taken include; use of crop …show more content…

A good example is when you plant carrots with onions. The onion smell ends up chasing the carrot root fly and vice versa. The use of trap crops is another alternative to pesticides whereby pests are attracted away from the valuable crops. Organic farming is another alternative because it involves less of pesticides or any other method. Biological pest control is another means that farmers can use to reduce the use of pesticides. It includes the use of bacteria and viruses, entomopathogenic fungi, pheromones, and the release of natural pest and parasites. Insect breeding interference is the last alternative that can be used instead of pesticides to reduce the effects (Pimentel

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