Grow more food to grow safe food – A Journey

Food is the prime requirement of an organism. There is no life without food because the food is the source of energy to do the work. At the time of independence, India was facing acute shortage of food grains. We were importing the food grains from other countries. To solve the crisis of shortage of food grains, Govt. of India launched Grow More Food Programme during 1947-53. The purpose of this program was to grow more food from per unit area of land to provide the food to the every citizen of India. Assured irrigation, high yielding crop varieties, chemical fertilizers and pesticides played important roles to step up production of food grains and finally we could achieve self-sufficiency and Green Revolution in food grain production. After achieving this spectacular success in the field of agriculture, the chemical pesticides and fertilizers were accepted as main tools for the pest management and production of food grains. The consumption of chemical pesticides increased from 160 metric ton in 1948-49 to 75,418 metric ton technical grade in 1988-89. It was the maximum extent of consumption of chemical pesticides. After that it has come down due to successful implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programme in India.


Liberal and indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides have resulted several problems associated with pest scenario, health and environment. Development of pest resistance to different pesticides, pest resurgence, development of different pest biotypes are some of the problems observed due to overuse of pesticides. Pesticides residue in food, feed, fodder and water resulted in contamination in food chain through bio-magnification. Destruction of beneficial organisms found in agro-eco-system causing disturbing ecological balance.

Considering these ill effects of pesticides, it has now become very much essential to grow safe food with no pesticide residue or their residue below permissible level. Integrated pest management is the solution for this problem which includes the adoption of cultural, mechanical, biological and chemical methods of pest management in integrated manner. In this concept, chemical method of pest management is used as last resort when the pest population crosses Economic Threshold Level (ETL) aiming promotion of bio-pesticides in place of chemical pesticides. There is a need to create awareness among the people about the ill-effects of chemical pesticides and also how to use them safely to grow safe food by way of wide publicity through print and electronic media and also by placing hoardings in prominent places. Recently in the year 2014-15 Govt. of India, Ministry of Agriculture, Dept of Agriculture and Cooperation has launched a Grow Safe Food Campaign through such hoardings in almost all the states of India to create awareness about safe and judicious use of pesticides. Let us contribute to this campaign to spread this message among public and promote sustainability in agriculture.