Endosulfan Alternative in India

Does Endosulfan have an alternative? Non Pesticidal Management - A large-scale success story from Andhra Pradesh, India

May 2009

Pat Costner, IPEN Science Advisor for Thanal, IPEN Pesticide Working Group

This report describes the use of endosulfan alternatives by farmers in the remote villages of Andhra Pradesh, India, starting in 2002. Farmers who had suffered adverse effects from modern agricultural practices turned to a system called ‘Non Pesticidal Management’ (NPM). This has provided economic and social benefits, as well as an understanding of the effects of pesticides like endosulfan and monocrotophos, and knowledge of alternatives. This time it was not about substituting safer pesticides, but about employing safer sustainable methods that remove the need for pesticides altogether. The practice occurred in 3,000 villages, over an area of 1.7 million acres.