Abstract
This study evaluates the risks of pesticides applied in rice-fish and rice farming, with and without integrated pest management (IPM) strategies, to non-target aquatic organisms in two provinces of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Pesticide inventories and application patterns were collected from 120 Vietnamese farmers through interviews. Risks were assessed using (1) Pesticide RIsks in the Tropics to Man, Environment, and Trade (PRIMET), a first-tier model, which calculates predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) of pesticides in the rice field, based on the compound’s physico-chemical properties and the application pattern, and then compares the PECs to safe concentrations based on literature data, and (2) species sensitivity distribution (SSD), a second-tier assessment model using species sensitivity distributions to calculate potentially affected fraction (PAF) of species based on the PECs from PRIMET. Our results show that several of the used insecticides pose a high risk to fish and arthropods and that the risks are higher among rice farmers than among rice-fish farmers. This study indicates that the PRIMET model in combination with SSDs offer suitable approaches to help farmers and plant protection staff to identify pesticides that may cause high risk to the environment and therefore should be substituted with safer alternatives.
Highlights
Vietnam is currently ranked as the fifth largest rice producer in the world, with most of its rice being farmed in the Mekong River Delta (Ricepedia 2016)
This study aims to evaluate if the use of pesticides among rice farmers and rice-fish farmers in the Mekong Delta poses a risk for direct toxicological effects on aquatic organisms living in the rice fields, with a focus on fish
Our study shows that farmers use a large number of pesticides likely to cause negative environmental effects on fish and other aquatic organisms
Summary
Vietnam is currently ranked as the fifth largest rice producer in the world, with most of its rice being farmed in the Mekong River Delta (Ricepedia 2016). Several programs have been launched since 1992 in Vietnam in order to train rice farmers to reduce their pesticide use, such as integrated pest management (IPM) programs (Fig. 1). Several information campaigns on safer pesticide use have been launched in order to help famers reduce their pesticide use in the delta (Huan et al 1999, 2008). Some farmers practice integrated rice-fish culture in the delta that can provide a sustainable alternative to rice monocultures, Environ Sci Pollut Res (2018) 25:13322–13334
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