Govt Forms Taskforce to Assess Pesticide Usage and its Impacts on Health

Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Ramnath Adhikari, has established a five-member committee to assess health issues affecting farmers in several wards of Gandaki Rural Municipality, Gorkha.

The task force, coordinated by Senior Crop Protection Officer Manoj Pokharel, was formed after reports emerged in various media outlets highlighting that excessive pesticide use in vegetable farming in these wards has caused severe health problems among farmers.

According to the reports, 61 vegetable farmers from the rural municipality have been diagnosed with cancer, and 15 have suffered from kidney failure.

The taskforce includes Dr. Kashinath Chiluwal, a scientist from the Nepal Agricultural Research Council; Rijan Karki, a Food Research Officer at the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control; Bibek Sunar, a Crop Protection Officer at the Central Agriculture Laboratory; and Madhav Bhatta, a Crop Protection Officer at the Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center.

"A five-member task force has been formed following the decision of an emergency meeting held in the presence of the Minister on 27 August 2024, to investigate the pesticide-related health issues in Gandaki Rural Municipality, Gorkha, and submit a report," the official decision states.

The committee has been instructed to visit the affected areas and submit a comprehensive report on their findings. -- RSS