Chemical pesticides and its effects: Monitoring towards a new concept in agroecosystem

India depends heavily on agriculture as a means of ensuring food security. Even though agricultural productivity has increased significantly over the last few decades as a result of advances in irrigation technology, the persistence of agriculture continues to be challenged by insects, weeds, and pests while other factors continue to pose problems. Indispensable in agriculture, pesticides (including fungicides, insecticides, rodenticides, molluscides, nematicides, and herbicides) play an important role in reducing production problems and economic loss from agricultural production. While pesticide usage may provide significant benefits to agricultural practices, the long-term exposure to these inputs also has considerable potential for negative impacts on both the environment and the human population. Immediate and long-term impacts, such as neurological, patho-physiological, immuno-compromised or reproductive issues, will affect vulnerable individuals depending on the type and level of exposure to pesticides. In some cases, the ingestion of food exceeding permissible levels has resulted in severe consequences. Regular applications of certain persistent organochlorine compounds such as DDT, endosulfan, and glyphosate (in decreasing order) also have a damaging effect on soil microbiota and alter many of the nutrient cycling processes within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Many developed countries have effectively banned the use of pesticides yet they continue to be heavily used in India. Therefore, it is very important to implement more sustainable and ecological methods of managing pesticide usage, as well as develop solutions that will minimize their residual and harmful effects, through the adoption of modern agricultural technologies.