Pesticide poisoning claimed 272 lives of farmers in Maharashtra in 4 years

NEW DELHI: Deaths of farmers and farm labourers caused by pesticide poisoning in Maharashtra might have grabbed public attention outside the state only last year after the Yavatmal incidents but the danger has been around for long.


Casualty figures of Maharashtra, shared by the agriculture ministry in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, show that pesticide poisoning has been a consistent killer with the state reporting as many as 272 deaths in the last four years.

As far as last year's incidents are concerned, Yavatmal district had reported the maximum number of 21 deaths but the remaining 42 deaths during 2017-18 were reported from 14 other districts in the state. Incidentally, the pesticide Monocrotophos, whose unapproved mixture is reportedly blamed for majority of the deaths in Yavatmal, continues to figure in the list of 66 pesticides which are being used in India despite its ban or restricted use elsewhere in the world.



The special investigation team (SIT), formed to probe 2017's pesticide poisoning deaths in Yavatmal, had found during its investigation that most victims had used Monocrotophos either in its pure form or mixed with some other pesticide. It had, therefore, recommended its ban.

Though the Maharashtra government had complied with the ban in November prohibiting its sale and marketing for a limited period of 60 days, it is up to the Centre to completely ban it under the Insecticides Act, 1968. Farm activist Kavitha Kuruganti of the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), however, believes that the state can still do it by suspending licence or by stopping issue of fresh licences or its renewal.