Assessment of the pressure of pesticide use on the environment: Case of strawberry of Loukkos northwestern Morocco

Abstract

Modern agriculture relies on the intensive use of chemical inputs including pesticides. Unfortunately, the irrational and often abusive use of pesticides poses a threat to both human health and the environment through residues in foodstuffs and the pollution of the various compartments of the environment, in particular both surface and groundwater, especially since these practices and their impacts are poorly understood. Agri-environmental indicators represent a valuable tool for studying and assessing the pressure of phytosanitary use on the environment. Strawberry cultivation is highly developed in the Loukkos irrigated perimeter (north-west of Morocco) and is the subject of many phytosanitary interventions with regard to the phytosanitary problems of this crop. In this work, we assessed the impact of phytosanitary use of strawberry on the environment based on the determination of agri-environmental indicators. The methodology of the study is based on field surveys with 31 strawberry growers in the area using a questionnaire in which we gathered as much information as possible about the conduct and the technical route followed by the strawberry producers. The results showed that the agri-environmental indicators calculated on all the farms surveyed reveal very high values such as treatment frequency Index (IFT), Number of treatments (NT), Total quantity of active substances used (QSA) and Polluting pressure by pesticides (PPP). These results reflect the intensive use of pesticides, justified by high number of products used (32 CP, 29 A.I.) and by high average frequency of pesticide treatments (22) per production cycle. Indeed, the adoption of agri-environmental indicators is essential in order to follow the evolution of pesticides use and thus minimize pesticide treatments with the consequence of reducing the risks of contamination of natural resources as part of a strategy integrated pest management or agro-ecological respectful of the environment.

Keywords

• fraise
• pesticides
• indicateurs agroenvironnementaux
• périmètre du loukkos