Impact of pesticides on Sustainable Agricultural Development

The term pesticide includes a wide range of ingredients including such preparations as insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, rodenticides, molluscicides, nematicides, plant growth regulators, etc. Their negative impact is associated with the disappearance of a large number of wild flora and fauna and the change of the function of ecosystems whose rehabilitation needs to be done through biodiversity-based services such as biological control of pests that will also bring minimal doses of different pesticides.The most important negative consequences are the reduction of genetic variability of living systems, eutrophication processes of freshwater and marine species as well as the chemical and physical and biological changes of the soil. In addition, high chemical fertilization also results in cycles of elements (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, etc.) that are the delicate mechanisms for maintaining biological and chemical-physical balances in an ecosystem, and between ecosystems and biosphere. Various scholars have identified many variables in this problem, such as loss of landscape elements, increased surface cultivation, etc. however little is known about their positive and negative effects on biodiversity. The purpose of this article is to analyze the negative and positive effects of pesticide use in terms of the intensification of agriculture and modernization of human society, which is accompanied by the use of a larger quantity of pesticides with the main purpose of increasing yield and improving their trading value.The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization defines pesticides as any substance or mixture of substances intended for the prevention, destruction or control of any disease or pest. In a study conducted in eight countries in Western and Eastern Europe, significant negative impacts of the intensification of agriculture on the diversity of wild plants, bird species and the potential for biological pest control have been determined, with a negative effect higher than the use of insecticides and fungicides.