Abstract
Colonization projects and the consolidation of commodities production made ranching and agriculture one of the main economic activities in Rondônia (RO). Simultaneously to this process, there was an increase in the consumption of pesticides, resulting in risks to human health and the environment. Based on datasets of different origins, this article analyzed the spatial distribution of pesticide commercialization in the different health regions of the state of Rondônia (RO), between 2015 and 2019. We used data from the Rondônia State Pesticide Trade Inspection System (Sistema de Fiscalização do Comércio de Agrotóxicos do Estado de Rondônia – SIAFRO), managed by the Agrosilvopastoral Health Defense Agency of the State of Rondônia (Agência de Defesa Sanitária Agrosilvopastoril do Estado de Rondônia – IDARON); the Phytosanitary Pesticides System (Sistema de Agrotóxicos Fitossanitários – AGROFIT), the National Health Surveillance Agency (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária – ANVISA), the Brazilian Institue of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis – IBAMA) and of the IBGE Automatic Recovery System of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Sistema IBGE de Recuperação Automática do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – SIDRA/IBGE). The consolidation of these data contributed to the analysis and presentation of the spatial distribution of the average amount of pesticides sold by health regions in RO and the main active ingredients sold, their use classification and quantity applied to each culture. We conclude that the production of commodities such as soy, corn, coffee, and pasture are the main drivers of pesticide commercialization in the study region. The main marketed active ingredients suggest potential risks to public health and the environment. In addition, the present safety criteria regarding pesticides, especially in Brazil, are outdated and lead to public health and environmental vulnerability.
Highlights
In the 1970s, the federal government started to include the state of Rondônia (RO) in the movement to expand the agricultural frontier
According to IBGE (2017a), the relationship between the total area devoted to agriculture and the number of agricultural establishments results in an average area of 47 hectares in establishments classified as family farming, while those of non-family farming reached an average of 335 hectares
In addition to the paucity of data for monitoring the marketing and use of pesticides and considering what is known to date about these substances, as well as the knowledge gaps that continue to raise concerns, it was possible to infer that current safety standards for pesticides, especially in Brazil, are outdated and may not protect public health and the environment
Summary
In the 1970s, the federal government started to include the state of Rondônia (RO) in the movement to expand the agricultural frontier. In order to boost agribusiness, the Development Program for the Northwest Region of Brazil (Programa de Desenvolvimento da Região Noroeste do Brasil – POLONOROESTE (1981)), financed by the World Bank, and the Agricultural and Forestry Plan of Rondônia (Plano Agropecuário e Florestal de Rondônia – PLANAFLORO (1986)) were implemented in the 1980s. These programs served as stimuli to large businesses through tax exemption, non-refundable financing, and land distribution (Pelaez et al, 2012). As a result of these stimuli, agriculture has become one of the main economic activities in RO, being in full expansion, with a great mobilization of agribusiness aimed at the production of agricultural commodities (Beckmann and Santana, 2019; Lobão and Staduto, 2020)
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