Serious public health and environmental problems related to pesticide use exist in both Nicaragua and Guatemala, according to a recent report from the Danish Agency for International Development (DANIDA).
The report found that new estimates place the annual acute illness rate due to pesticides in the range of 11,000 to 30,000 cases in Guatemala. In Nicaragua, estimates of annual poisonings are approximately 10,000 cases. (Nicaragua's population is about 4 million, and Guatemala's is nearly 10 million.)
The study found that while pesticide imports to Nicaragua and Guatemala declined in the 1980s, imports of agrochemicals began to increase again by the mid-1990s, as both countries expanded agricultural exports.
The report's analysis uncovered disturbing evidence of continued reliance on pesticides classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as class 1A ("extremely hazardous") and 1B ("highly hazardous"). In both countries, quantities of these pesticides as a percentage of total pesticide imports has not changed significantly from preceding decades.
While legislation exists to regulate pesticide use in Nicaragua and Guatemala, the report found that progress to reduce risks associated with pesticide use has been countered by the declining role of the state in both countries. This has been coupled with increasing emphasis on export-led economic growth.
The report makes specific recommendations, including directing Danish development assistance in the agricultural sector toward greater reliance on alternative pest control strategies. It also recommends altering agricultural credit supports to reduce the almost exclusive reliance by Central American governments and private lending institutions on pesticide-based pest control methods.
The authors of the report also outline the need for international action, including pressure to curb the production, sale and use of WHO category 1A and 1B pesticides, and to alter multilateral lending institutions' policies and practices favouring chemical-intensive agricultural development. At the same time, there must be support for alternative and fair trade initiatives, the report says.
DANIDA is currently funding a seven-country project called PLAGSALUD, designed to address health problems in Central America caused by pesticides. It is also developing an agriculture sector support program with Nicaragua based on the report's findings.
[Abridged from Pesticide Action Network North America. E-mail <panna@panna.org> or on the web at .