The Pesticide-Free Village

Gerry Marten and Dona Glee Williams report on reliance on the Indian village of Punukula, which was nearly destroyed by dependence on pesticides.

Around 20 years ago, a handful of families migrated from the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, south-east India, to Punukula, a community of approximately 900 people farming plots of 2 to 10 acres. The newcomers introduced cotton farming, attracting local farmers with the promise of greater profits than the mixed crops they were growing for food and sale, such as millet, mung beans, chilli, and rice. However, cotton farming required the use of pesticides and fertilisers, which were unfamiliar to the mostly illiterate local farmers.

Local agrochemical dealers filled the need for information and supplies. These "middlemen" sold commercial seeds, fertilisers, and insecticides on credit, guaranteeing the purchase of the crops. They also provided technical advice supplied by the companies that sold their products. Farmers depended on the dealers, and if they wanted to grow cotton — which they did — they had no other option.

Initially, the high yields and incomes from cotton farming attracted farmers. The outlay for insecticides was low, as cotton pests had not yet arrived. Many farmers were so impressed by the chemicals that they started using them on other crops. The immediate benefits from cotton farming masked the environmental degradation that was happening as a result.

Soon, cotton-eating pests, like bollworms and aphids, plagued the fields. Repeated pesticide spraying killed the most vulnerable pests, leaving the stronger ones to reproduce and pass on their resistance. As the pests grew tougher, farmers applied more insecticides, sometimes mixing as many as ten different chemicals. At the same time, cotton farming depleted the soil of nutrients, forcing farmers to use more fertilisers.

By the time some farmers tried to break free from their chemical dependence, insecticides had already wiped out many of the natural predators, such as birds, wasps, and beetles, that previously controlled the pests. Without these predators, the pests flourished if the use of insecticides was reduced. As the costs of fertilisers and insecticides increased, the cost of cotton production soared, and many farmers fell deeper into debt.

The cycle of chemical dependence was broken when a respected village elder decided to experiment with a different method. He was one of the first to grow cotton and would become the first to try it without chemicals. The approach was part of a programme in Non-Pesticide Management (NPM), developed with the help of an NGO called SECURE, which had recognized the environmental and financial difficulties caused by chemical farming.

NPM involved the use of neem, a fast-growing evergreen tree related to mahogany, which naturally repels insects. Neem produces pesticides that are harmless to humans and animals, including the beneficial insects that eat pests.

Neem is native to India and Burma, where it has been used for centuries for pest control and health benefits. To use neem for cotton farming, seeds are ground into a powder, soaked overnight in water, and sprayed onto the crop every 10 days. Neem cake, which is applied to the soil, kills pests and acts as an organic fertiliser rich in nitrogen. Neem is locally grown and inexpensive compared to chemical insecticides, making it a cost-effective alternative.

Farmers quickly saw the benefits of NPM, with harvests as good as those from chemical-dependent cotton farming, and they saved money by not buying insecticides. Instead of spending scarce cash on chemicals, they invested time and effort into NPM practices. By the end of 2000, all farmers in Punukula had switched to NPM, and they began using it on other crops as well. The status and economic opportunities for women improved, and NPM practices spread, as women began gathering neem seeds to sell to other villages.

In 2004, the village government declared Punukula a pesticide-free village. The village now serves as a model for spreading NPM to other communities, with approximately 2,000 farmers visiting each year. What began with a few farmers trying to escape the dangers of pesticides has grown into a movement with the potential to help an entire region recover from ecological disaster.

Questions:

Questions 1-4

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
Write:

• TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
• FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
• NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1. Cotton growing was expected to raise more money than other crops.
2. Some of the local agro-chemical dealers had been farmers in the past.
3. Initially the farmers’ cotton yields were low.
4. At first, the farmers failed to notice the negative effects on their fields of pesticide use.

Questions 5-10

Complete the notes below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Non-Pesticide-Management Programme

• Developed with the aid of SECURE
• Based on the use of an (5) _____________
• Neem contains many (6) _____________ that target plant-eating predators
• Neem:
  • Used as a pesticide
  • (7) _____________ formed by grinding seeds
  • Left (8) _____________ to soak in water
  • Sprayed regularly
  • Used as a pesticide and as a fertilizer
  • Added in (9) _____________ form to soil
  • Contains a lot of (10) _____________

Questions 11-13

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

1. In which year did farmers finally stop using chemicals on cotton crops in Punukula?
2. What did the women of Punukula collect to make money?
3. What project do the authorities in Punukula hope to set up in the future?

• Reliance

  • Vietnamese: Sự phụ thuộc
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Reliance on pesticides" (Sự phụ thuộc vào thuốc trừ sâu)

• Agro-chemical dealers

  • Vietnamese: Đại lý hóa chất nông nghiệp
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Local agro-chemical dealers" (Các đại lý hóa chất nông nghiệp địa phương)

• Middlemen

  • Vietnamese: Người trung gian
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "These 'middlemen' sold commercial seeds, fertilisers and insecticides" (Những người trung gian này bán hạt giống thương mại, phân bón và thuốc trừ sâu)

• Outlay

  • Vietnamese: Chi tiêu, khoản chi
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Outlay on insecticides was fairly low" (Khoản chi cho thuốc trừ sâu khá thấp)

• Pesticide

  • Vietnamese: Thuốc trừ sâu
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Growing cotton meant using pesticides" (Trồng bông có nghĩa là sử dụng thuốc trừ sâu)

• Fertiliser

  • Vietnamese: Phân bón
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Farmers applied a greater variety and quantity of poisons, something mixing 'cocktails' of as many as ten insecticides" (Nông dân đã áp dụng nhiều loại phân bón khác nhau)

• Vicious cycle

  • Vietnamese: Vòng luẩn quẩn, chu kỳ tồi tệ
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Their vicious cycle was only broken by the willingness of a prominent village elder to experiment" (Chu kỳ tồi tệ của họ chỉ được phá vỡ khi một trưởng lão nổi bật của làng sẵn sàng thử nghiệm)

• Depleted

  • Vietnamese: Cạn kiệt
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Cotton was gobbling up the nutrients in the soil, leaving the growers no option but to invest in chemical fertilisers" (Cây bông đã làm cạn kiệt chất dinh dưỡng trong đất)

• Predator

  • Vietnamese: Kẻ săn mồi
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Insecticides had already decimated the birds, wasps, beetles, and other predators" (Thuốc trừ sâu đã tiêu diệt chim, ong, bọ cánh cứng và các loài kẻ săn mồi khác)

• Decimated

  • Vietnamese: Tàn phá, hủy diệt
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Insecticides had already decimated the birds" (Thuốc trừ sâu đã tiêu diệt chim)

• Alternative

  • Vietnamese: Thay thế, lựa chọn khác
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "He would become the first to try it without chemicals" (Ông ấy sẽ là người đầu tiên thử phương pháp không sử dụng hóa chất)

• Repels

  • Vietnamese: Đẩy lùi
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Neem protects itself against insects by producing a multitude of natural pesticides" (Cây neem bảo vệ mình khỏi côn trùng bằng cách sản xuất một loạt thuốc trừ sâu tự nhiên)

• Subsequently

  • Vietnamese: Sau đó, kế tiếp
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Subsequently, they invested time and labour in NPM practices" (Sau đó, họ đầu tư thời gian và công sức vào các thực hành NPM)

• Momentum

  • Vietnamese: Động lực
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "Neem change gathered momentum as NPM became even more effective" (Sự thay đổi do cây neem tạo động lực khi NPM trở nên hiệu quả hơn)

• Panchayat

  • Vietnamese: Chính quyền làng
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "In 2004, the panchayat (village government) formally declared Punukula to be a pesticide-free village" (Vào năm 2004, chính quyền làng (panchayat) chính thức tuyên bố Punukula là một làng không có thuốc trừ sâu)

• Model

  • Vietnamese: Mô hình
  • IELTS TUTOR xét ví dụ từ bài đọc: "The village now serves as a model for disseminating NPM to other communities" (Làng giờ đây là mô hình để phổ biến NPM đến các cộng đồng khác)

Answers:

1. TRUE
2. NOT GIVEN
3. FALSE
4. TRUE
5. Evergreen tree
6. Natural pesticides
7. A powder
8. Overnight
9. Cake
10. Nitrogen
11. 2000
12. Neem seeds
13. Water purification