Cotton and pesticides

Cotton growers use a lot of pesticides

Cotton is easily damaged by pests, so cotton growers are always looking for ways to protect their crops. For this reason, large quantities of the most toxic pesticides in the world are used in growing cotton:

Only 2.4% of the arable land in the world is used for growing cotton;
However, 24% of the insecticides sold on the world market in 1994 were used on cotton crops.

PESTICIDE a chemical that kills pests. [PESTS are insects or animals that destroy crops or food supplies - the suffix '-cide' means 'to kill.]

INSECTICIDES: a chemical that kills insects

ARABLE LAND: land on which crops can be grown

Small farmers in many developing countries grow cotton; it is a cash crop which contributes to the economies of these countries. However, pesticides can be particularly dangerous for farmers in developing countries, where workers are often too poor to protect themselves properly when they use the chemicals.

In developing countries, as many as 14% of work-related injuries in agriculture are thought to be caused by pesticides, and so are 10% of the injuries that lead to death.

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

CASH CROP: a crop that is grown for the purpose of being sold, not to be used by the farmers themselves

MORE ABOUT COTTON AND PESTICIDES

Damage to the environment

In addition, pesticides cause other problems, through damage to the environment.
One striking example can be seen in the country of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan
is one of the main cotton-growing countries in the world. Heavy use of pesticides and bad methods of irrigation have caused terrible destruction to the environment. Large areas of land are barren and the sources of drinking water are polluted.

The Aral Sea, partly within Uzbekistan, used to be the world's fourth largest body of fresh water. But, in the last 30 years, it has lost 60% of its water because of irrigation projects. Fish cannot live in the water that remains because it is too salty and too polluted by pesticides; where the lake is dry, it has formed a salt desert. In the surrounding area, there has been a frightening increase in cases of birth defects and blood diseases in children.

BARREN: nothing will grow there

IRRIGATION: a system of providing water for crops