Are pesticides linked to poverty?
Pesticides have become increasingly expensive. The cost of chemicals can be as much as 60% of farmers’ production costs, which leads to severe indebtedness. Pesticides often lose their effectiveness after a few years because pests are able to adapt and become resistant to them. Farmers are then trapped in an endless cycle where they must buy an ever-increasing quantity of pesticides or switch to newer, more expensive chemicals. Each year thousands of farmers commit suicide because they cannot pay their debts. Ironically, they often do so by ingesting the pesticides which have caused their despair.
