The Pesticide-Free Village
Gerry Marten and Dona Glee Williams report on reliance on the Indian village of Punukula, which was nearly destroyed by dependence on pesticides.

Around 20 years ago, a handful of families migrated from the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, south-east India, to Punukula, a community of approximately 900 people farming plots of 2 to 10 acres. The newcomers introduced cotton farming, attracting local farmers with the promise of greater profits than the mixed crops they were growing for food and sale, such as millet, mung beans, chilli, and rice. However, cotton farming required the use of pesticides and fertilisers, which were unfamiliar to the mostly illiterate local farmers.

Local agrochemical dealers filled the need for information and supplies. These "middlemen" sold commercial seeds, fertilisers, and insecticides on credit, guaranteeing the purchase of the crops. They also provided technical advice supplied by the companies that sold their products. Farmers depended on the dealers, and if they wanted to grow cotton — which they did — they had no other option.

Initially, the high yields and incomes from cotton farming attracted farmers. The outlay for insecticides was low, as cotton pests had not yet arrived. Many farmers were so impressed by the chemicals that they started using them on other crops. The immediate benefits from cotton farming masked the environmental degradation that was happening as a result.

Soon, cotton-eating pests, like bollworms and aphids, plagued the fields. Repeated pesticide spraying killed the most vulnerable pests, leaving the stronger ones to reproduce and pass on their resistance. As the pests grew tougher, farmers applied more insecticides, sometimes mixing as many as ten different chemicals. At the same time, cotton farming depleted the soil of nutrients, forcing farmers to use more fertilisers.

By the time some farmers tried to break free from their chemical dependence, insecticides had already wiped out many of the natural predators, such as birds, wasps, and beetles, that previously controlled the pests. Without these predators, the pests flourished if the use of insecticides was reduced. As the costs of fertilisers and insecticides increased, the cost of cotton production soared, and many farmers fell deeper into debt.

The cycle of chemical dependence was broken when a respected village elder decided to experiment with a different method. He was one of the first to grow cotton and would become the first to try it without chemicals. The approach was part of a programme in Non-Pesticide Management (NPM), developed with the help of an NGO called SECURE, which had recognized the environmental and financial difficulties caused by chemical farming.

NPM involved the use of neem, a fast-growing evergreen tree related to mahogany, which naturally repels insects. Neem produces pesticides that are harmless to humans and animals, including the beneficial insects that eat pests.

Neem is native to India and Burma, where it has been used for centuries for pest control and health benefits. To use neem for cotton farming, seeds are ground into a powder, soaked overnight in water, and sprayed onto the crop every 10 days. Neem cake, which is applied to the soil, kills pests and acts as an organic fertiliser rich in nitrogen. Neem is locally grown and inexpensive compared to chemical insecticides, making it a cost-effective alternative.

Farmers quickly saw the benefits of NPM, with harvests as good as those from chemical-dependent cotton farming, and they saved money by not buying insecticides. Instead of spending scarce cash on chemicals, they invested time and effort into NPM practices. By the end of 2000, all farmers in Punukula had switched to NPM, and they began using it on other crops as well. The status and economic opportunities for women improved, and NPM practices spread, as women began gathering neem seeds to sell to other villages.

In 2004, the village government declared Punukula a pesticide-free village. The village now serves as a model for spreading NPM to other communities, with approximately 2,000 farmers visiting each year. What began with a few farmers trying to escape the dangers of pesticides has grown into a movement with the potential to help an entire region recover from ecological disaster.