The alarming use of agrochemicals 
in Rondonia, Brazil

A survey of smallholders in the region of Rolin de Moura has confirmed the generalised and increasing use of agrochemicals in Rondonia, Amazonia and detected negligence and a Series of irregularities in the sale and use of the products. This has led to several cleat/is and poisonings and the development of a serious threat to the regions inhabitants and environment. Jose Neuton Alves de Oliveira and Altair de Oliveira Toniato have carried out a survey to assess these factors.

At a Symposium on Basic Sanitation and Community Hygiene organised by the Federal University in December 1992, pesticide sales personnel reported that the municipality of Rolim de Moura, Rondonia, had consumed the largest volume of herbicides in the state during the year 1991. The main product in use is Gramocil, a h)rmulation of paraquat and diuron. When a participant asked for the number of pesticides poisonings and fatalities, company representatives were unfortunately unable to reply.

    As agricultural technicians working at the State Secretariat for Environmental Development (SEDAM) in Rolim de Moura, we observed a high mortality rate of fish in the regional waterways and the loss of bee swarms, poisoned by the cotton crop. We had reports from sales personnel that the region was one of the country’s biggest consumers of herbicides using Gramocil. We conducted a simple survey between 10 August and 10 September 1993 through the use of a questionnaire. Eight questions were put to 425 rural producers who came to the local SEDAM office to request a licence to clear forest by burning. The information is supplemented with research conducted by ECQPORE (Guapore Valley Ecological Action) with smallholders in three municipalities in the region, Rolim de Moura, Castanheiras and Cacaieiros. ECOPORE is greatly concerned about the impact of the dramatic increase in pesticide use in the area.

Background to increasing pesticide use in Rondonia

The agricultural population in Rondonia has grown rapidly in recent years, and has accelerated the process of environmental degradation, as witnessed by death of fish and bee swarms. Cotton production has expanded and with it the use of increasing quantities of agrochemicals.

    The population migration to the Amazonian region is driven by the accelerated agricultural change in parts of southern Brazil during the last 20 years. There, mechanisation has increased and property ownership concentrated as a result of the expansion of soya production. In these areas, 11 out of every 1 2 agricultural workers were forced off the land. Larger farmers switched from the more labour-intensive, frost-sensitive coffee production to soya, further fuelled by low coffee prices and incentives to plant soya. The flood of immigrants to Amazonia was also pushed by social tension in both rural and urban areas of Brazil. which encouraged people to go in search of a ‘promised land.

    As occupation in Rondonia increased. forest was cut down for planting temporary crops and pasture in a sequence of operations including the extraction of woods. tree felling, burning and the other unsustainable activities. It became clear after the second year of this that conditions such as humidity and high temperature encouraged intense vegetation growth, and created a strong motive for the indiscriminate use of pesticides.

SEDAM estimates that 25% of the state has been deforested: an increase from only 3% of deforested area in just over two decades. The flood of immigrants to Rondonia fed a disastrous model of land occupation and exploitation of natural resources. Even though the rate of immigration has decreased. internal migration in the area has continued to put pressure on the local environment.

Deforestation in Rondonia. Photo: Tony Gross/Oxfam

Pesticide problems highlighted

The generalised use of pesticides in the municipality of Rolim de Moura and the surrounding region. is poisoning aquatic and land ecosystems and affecting the quality of life of the area’s inhabitants. The specific areas of concern include:

• The high mortality of fish in the rivers Bolones. Palha and Manicore indicated a  very high use of toxic substances in 1992. However no detailed information is available  to explain this situation, and no materials and  equipment were available to collect samples  and take them for specialised laboratory  analysis. 

• The recent expansion of cotton cultivation  has increased the demand for pesticides. Many farmers use pesticides when there is no need (technological packages are imported from other regions) contributing to an increase in pests on crops.  

• Pesticide use had damaged the municipality’s flourishing apiculture. Several swarms have already been lost aiid there is strong evidence to suggest that the situation will get worse with the expansion of cotton.

Aerial view of the Rondonian rainforest. Photo: Jenny Matthews/Oxfam

Results of surveys indicated that in the municipalities of Rolim de Moura. Novo Horizonte, Castanheiras and Santa Luzia do Oeste, an average of 83.61 % of the total volume of pesticides used in 1993 were herbicides. The j)araquat and diuron-based lorniulation Gramocil was responsible for the greatest nunihem’ of poisonings, followed by the insecticide Thiodan (endosulfan). Many products were used on crops for which they were not recommended, for example: Karate (lambdacy halothrin), Thiodan, Fuzilade (fluazifop-P) on beans, orange trees amid others.

    Toxic substances are also misused in the home, putting the health of families at risk: 4.7% of the people interviewed occasionally used doses of the highly toxic pesticide Folidol (methyl parathion) in the home to combat insects like mosquitoes, cockroaches, fleas, etc.

    When asked how many farmers had received training on how to apply these products correctly, 42.5% said they had none. In replying to where they received their technical orientation for application. 54.82% said they used the label or the product instructions. However it was in these circumstances that the highest number of poisonings occurred. We presume that most of the agricultural workers in the region do not understand the information on the labels.

    Finally, the lack of control in the marketing of these products allows their indiscriminate sale by personnel and even cereal dealers who take unfair advantage of the farmers’ need for credit. The unpreparedness of many farmers, the habits they’ have acquired ill other regions. the planting of short-cycle crops, and the irresponsible issuing of agronomic prescriptions by’ some professionals are all factors contributing to the indiscriminate use of pesticides and causing serious harm to the health of the population and the environment.

Results of the survey

The average annual amount of agrochemicals used by the farmers interviewed was 8.05 litres of herbicides and 1.33 litres of insecticides.

The environment and the motives for using agrochemicals

The survey found that 83.61 % of agrochemicals used were for the control of cereals (herbicides). Formulations of diuron and paraquat (Gramocil, Gramoxone) were responsible for 71.38% of the volume of this figure. In most cases, the products were used for the preparation of land prior to planting beans or cotton. This preparation of land is generally carried out between January and April a period of very high rainfall, which makes weeding or burning difficult after the harvest of rice and corn which were planted the previous September to November.  

Cotton major culprit

Cotton was recently introduced to the region but cultivation of it is on the increase. This will certainly intensify the use of insecticides and acaricides, with consequent harm done to human health and the environment.

Poisonings and deaths

Of the 425 people interviewed. 40(9.43%) had been poisoned at some time. Poisonings are caused by’ a number of factors: the total unpreparedness of most agricultural workers: the negligence of those who market the products:

amid the hot climate which leads people to apply pesticides while only lightly clothed, thus exposing their bodies.

    The interviewees mentioned a further 55 cases of pesticide poisoning and (but deaths known to them, caused by’ the use of agrochemicals in the region. Three of the four deaths were the result of paraquat poisoning. The researchers tried to find more information about these deaths from the Rolim de Moura hospitals and the Registry Office, however records were incomplete and the cause of death is rarely given. Nevertheless an examination of records at the Registry Office brought to light another five pesticide-related deaths, including two suicides from Folidol (methyl parathion) and three accidental deaths.

    Subsequent investigation into poisonings show’s there is no improvement. 1994 began badly. At one o’clock in the morning of 1 January. the São José Hospital admitted the year’s first victim of pesticides poisoning the product responsible was Ema-Rato. According to infbrmation supplied by Dr. Milton L. Moreira, the Clinical Director of Mixed Unit, one of the three hospitals in Rolim de Moura, in the period between January and May 1994, 67 victims of exogenous poisoning were admitted to this one hospital. Of these 24 were identified as pesticide poisoning, 25 other causes and 18 were not specified. Other cases of poisoning were diagnosed without the victim needing to go to hospital. By May 1994. the Rolim de Moura’s Registry Office had recorded one death from pesticide poisoning (Gramocil).

Irresponsible marketing

It is clear that the deaths and poisonings are mainly caused by the inappropriate use of the products. This situation is aggravated by the negligence of the State, the search for profits by traders, amid the professional irresponsibility of many’ technical staff.

    In Rondonia. pesticides are sold as freely as ripe bananas at the end of market day. Even unlicensed establishments such as cereal traders sell them. Sales personnel use farmers’ associations as intermediaries. These associations generally pass the products on without any technical orientation. Sales personnel frequently sell products for use on crops for which they are not legally registered. In many cases this puts people’s health at risk, because agricultural produce is contaminated. One example of this was the use of Thiodan (endosulfan) on broca da vagem. As well as being inappropriate for use on this crop, Thiodan is banned by State Law’ N27 of 22 June 1984.

    Brazilian federal and state law on the control amid use of agrochemicals is not being observed in the state. The Rondonia State Agriculture Secretariat should inspect trading in these products but the results of the survey indicated that there is no enforcement of the law, even where agrochemicals have been marketed indiscriminately without supplying  the obligatory instructions for use. CREA-RO has demanded that agrochemical traders should only operate if they’ have credentials issued by the Council. It has also demanded that only’ responsible technicians are employed in these functions because, generally speaking, the people selling agrochemicals did not show the farmers how to use the products. They limit what they do to filling out prescriptions So as to make the sale legal. Some of these people are government officials working in the agricultural and environmental sectors of the bureaucracy.

    Farmers told us that one person selling Zeneca (previously ICI) products made the sale of each gallon of Gramocil on credit terms dependent on the purchaser also buying two litres of Karate (Zeneca product lamdacyhalothrin). The irresponsibility of some traders is so great that while attending a farmers' meeting, one agronomist employed by State Agriculture and Food Supply’ Secretariat (SEAGRI) in Rolim de Moura. witnessed a sales person marketing Zeneca products stating that Karate did not harm warm-blooded animals and that he could drink it without any problem. A local SEAGRI agronomist asked the meeting if anyone had ever been written a prescription by a professional and none of the 70 farmers present had.

    The survey also showed the significant and inappropriate use (4.7% ) of highly toxic products like methyl parathion (Folidol) to kill insects at home. The use of paraquat (Gramocil and Gramoxone) easily the main culprit of poisonings and deaths in the region is severely restricted in many countries including Germany, Sweden, Finland and other countries. Its substitution by another product an important step given the problems associated with its use, is, however, a problem for most farmers given the fact that other herbicides are more expensive. Consideration should be given to the use and dissemination of information about alternative ways of dealing with the weeds on which paraquat is used.

    The researchers are aware that the situation is serious in areas not covered in the survey, for example in horticulture. There are particular problems of serious irregularities in relation to the use of non-recommended products and the gap between application and harvest is not respected, with implications for the health of consumers.

Company response

Zeneca Agricola in São Paulo. Brazil, responded to the concerns expressed by local campaigning groups, pointing out that Zeneca has taken action in Rondonia to reduce pesticide misuse include:  

• In 1992, a project in schools was organised promoting the correct amid safe use of agrochemicals.

• In 1994, 1,500 items of personal protective equipment developed by Zeneca and Fundacentro-Ministry of Labour, were sold at cost price

• Approximately 100 meetings and rural events, attended by 1.000 farmers, were organised in co-operation with a Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company.  

• Fuller's Earth is supplied to hospitals in regions where paraquat-based products are used (Ed. it should be noted that there is no antidote to paraquat poisoning: Fuller's Earth is used to soak up paraquat ingested, but must be taken quickly to he effective).

• Labelling instructions follow the law, stating the crops on which it is appropriate to use the product, and Zeneca say their field staff emphasise the crops for which each product is registered.

It is Zeneca’s philosophy to inform the consumer about its products through labelling them, conducting campaigns on safe use, and supplying personal protective equipment” noted the company(1).

Nevertheless this is standard practice among the major agrochemical corporations, but fails to address the inadequacy of labels in communities with low-literacy, the difficulty of wearing protective equipment in hot climates. Actual training in safe use reaches a very limited number of farmers, and, when promoted by agrochemical corporations, promotes pesticides rather than a range of agronomic alternatives. While low’ cost protective clothing may be marketed, it is still outside the household budget and priorities of small farmers to buy this on a regular basis, particularly as gloves and masks have only a limited life-span.

1. Letter from Zeneca, Sao Paulo (Peter Ahlgrim, Director and Fernando Gallina, Director of Technical Department), to Gert Fischer of PAN-Brazil, dated 12 July 1994.

Jose Neuton Alves de Oliveira, forestry technician, and Altair de Oliveira Toniato, agricultural technician, of SEDAM, and ECOPORE (Ecological Action-Guapore Valley), Rolim de Moura.

Additional material provided by Gert Fishcer. Translations by Chris Whitehouse, Edited by BD.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No.27, March 1995, page 4]