Toxicity of Agricultural Pesticides to Soil Bacteria

Abstract

Food insecurity is a global pandemic. In 'The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World' 2020, it was estimated that almost 690 million (8.9 per cent) of the world's population went hungry in 2019, and the statistics keep rising (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2020). One of the interventions aimed at stemming food insecurity is to increase crop yield. Healthy soils produce healthy crops and soil quality is directly linked to food quality and quantity (FAO, 2015).In seeking ways to control disease carriers and different groups of pests, the agricultural industry witnessed a huge input of pesticides to maximize crop production and meet the demands for higher supplies of food for the fast-growing human population (Pal et al., 2006).