Agriculture and Environment: Coffee: Pesticide Use

Environmental Impacts of Production: Pesticide Use

Coffee production in countries like Brazil has involved the extensive use of chemicals to combat pests and diseases. Prior to the 1970s producers used benzene hexachloride 1.5 gamma isomer (BHC) in 2 sprayings to combat bean borer. Later to combat rust, producers used 20 sprayings of a copper fungicide with BHC and foliar fertiliser.

Eventually, BHC powder was replaced by lindane emulsion. BHC and lindane are organochlorines, whose use has since been prohibited due to their persistence in the environment.

Chemical poisoning
Many problems owing to chemical poisoning were registered among workers. No one investigated the impact on other species or the residuals in the coffee itself (May et al. 1993).

Impacts of full-sun coffee production
There has been a dramatic increase in the transformation of production from shade-grown to full-sun coffee.

One estimate suggests that half of the coffee produced in northern Latin America had been converted to full sun by 1990. Full-sun coffee is also referred to as "technified," high-input coffee production. This form of coffee production results in lower populations of predaceous insects, increased solar radiation, and reduced nutrient cycling.

Excessive dependence on agrochemicals
Technified coffee production also results in a spiralling dependence on agrochemicals such as herbicides, fungicides, nematicides, and fertilisers. In Costa Rica, for example, the government recommends that sun coffee producers apply 30 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare per year compared with shade coffee producers who use little or none.

In Colombia, with some 86% of coffee production technified, the country applies more than 400,000 metric tons of chemical fertilisers, at least when they can afford them during periods of high international prices.