Advances in Pesticide Applications and Their Significance to the Agrochemical Industry Servicing Tropical Farming

摘要

Pesticide application has benefited from many advances in key areas that are associated with machine design and use. Field efficiency, drift control, safety whilst loading products and in use, the cleaning of internal and external surfaces, being some examples. The spurs for these activities are diverse, but legislation that demands improved water quality, lower operator risks, reduced Plant Protection Product use, and improved operator productivity, have been vital. To make, monitor and claim the many potential gains that were needed, has been stimulated by the activities of internationally agreed Standards. These are protocols that describe what needs to be considered and how performance should be measured as well as threshold limits that need to be reached. Although many of these activities are intended for field crop sprayers, or those used with air assistance in tree and bush crops, sprayers carried by operators and are manually operated, are also included. The application of pesticides as sprayed drops in the open environment of fields and plantations has also triggered Standards that define how drift is to be assessed, the categorisation of low drift equipment as well as protocols that may fully account for the fate of all the active ingredient within and beyond the treatment zone. Communication and training are equally critical; approved courses for operators, the periodic testing of sprayers both monitor and help sustain high standards on farms and plantations as well as ensuring effective transfer of knowledge. All countries and crops are likely to benefit from these broad initiatives that encourages more responsible Plant Protection Product use. This paper will focus on these advances - using tropical crop sprayers and spraying methods as examples that will illustrate what has been achieved and where advances still await.