Pesticides in Malaysia

Generally referred to as racun Cina (Chinese poison) as the packaging carries only descriptions in Chinese words, farmers say they have no choice but to rely on the banned pesticide “for its effectiveness”.

Ismail Shafie, 36, of Permatang Kenanga pays RM6 for a packet and generally uses two packets for one relong (about 0.4ha) to kill off the snails. “It’s the most effective solution but we are worried about the side-effects.”

From time to time, there have been newspaper reports of farmers complaining of skin rashes and sprayers falling sick after applying the chemicals in the field.

Veteran farmer Tajudin Yaakob, 55, echoes Ismail’s sentiments. He says farmers have been buying agro-chemicals such as endosulfan and methomyl from the black market, adding that the contraband came from Thailand.

He claims that endosulfan is readily supplied by at least five shops in his area, Kampung Air Hitam in Jerlun. “But they’ll only sell to farmers whom they trust,” he adds.

As the Agriculture Department has beefed up enforcement, sellers and buyers have devised ingenious ways to evade detection. For example, farmers would place orders in the shop but pick up the contraband in a rubbish bin at another location.

Tajudin says his problem with pests began after he switched from the traditional transplanting practice to direct seeding 15 years ago. Before Mada’s intervention, farmers sow rice seeds in a nursery and transplant the saplings to the growing plot later.

“Twenty years ago, I used buffaloes to plough my farm and I never used pesticides. But now, my farm cannot do without these chemicals,” he adds.

His neighbour Azmi Abdul Jalil, 60, shares his frustrations. “The number of pesticides used have increased tremendously. For one relong we spend RM120 for two rounds of herbicide spraying and RM45 for three times of pesticide spraying and that excludes labour costs,” he explains.

More checks
Agriculture Department deputy director-general (operation) Sulaiman Md Zain admits that use of contraband agro-chemicals is a growing problem but the authorities are doing all they can to curb smuggling and nab local culprits who offer the prohibited chemicals to farmers.

He says enforcement together with Customs officers had some success but is frustrated by pacts between farmers and suppliers. “Suppliers even go direct to the farms and this is rampant in the Mada area. However, we are educating the farmers through our extension programme on the danger of these banned chemicals.”

In Kedah and Perlis, out of 290 premises that were licensed to sell agro-chemicals, 59 operators had their permits revoked for contravening the Pesticides Act in 2006.

Since 2007, Sulaiman says roadblocks at entry points bordering Thailand have been mounted following reports of smuggling, and raids have been extended to farms.

“The contraband is usually concealed in vegetable trucks coming from Thailand.” He adds that due to limited resources, there is no 100% inspection and enforcement relies on tip-offs and intelligence gathering.

In the last two years, only two of the 21 roadblocks uncovered contraband. At the farms, 442 raids were conducted, with 20 confiscations and 12 convictions. Between 1998 and 2008, 6,271 checks conducted nationwide resulted in 555 confiscations, 365 prosecutions and half a million ringgit in fines. No offenders were jailed.

Damaging subsidies
Critics of agro-chemicals say the Government fails to see the co-relation between its agro-chemical subsidies and chemical dependence in the country’s rice fields.

Third World Network sustainable agriculture researcher Lim Li Ching says the problem afflicting Mada can be traced to the adoption of the Green Revolution by Malaysia. The Green Revolution is an international movement which started in the 1960s on agriculture expansion to feed growing populations.

“Mada spearheaded the two-season farming practice with government subsidies in high yield varieties (HYV) and agro-chemical inputs. As with the Green Revolution, mono-cropping of HYV is accompanied by a rapid rise in pesticide application as these varieties were more susceptible to pest outbreaks,” she explains.

By the 70s, she adds, Green Revolution-style farming has replaced the traditional farming practices of many developing countries. By the 90s, almost 75% of Asian rice areas were sown with these new varieties.

The Mada area is planted with several types of HYVs developed by the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Mardi).

Consumers Association of Penang education officer N.V. Subbarow urges the Government to review its subsidy policies and take steps to reform the rice growing system.

Sulaiman says the department is encouraging sustainable agricultural practices that include the reduction in the use of chemicals and organic farming methods but acknowledges that so far the programme only reaches out to vegetable and fruit farmers.