Farmers use intensive pesticides to harvest cotton, which is harmful to not only the health of the farmers using them, but also our environment as it pollutes rivers and groundwater that negatively interfere with the ecosystem. Even though these farmers know of the health and environmental risks, they still use harmful pesticides to produce cotton, but why is this so. This stock and flow map should explain what impacts farmers to use pesticides to grow cotton despite the risks and explain the cause and effect relationship their use has on the cotton industry and the environment.
According to Clevo Wilson and Clem Tisdell article, "Why farmer continue to use pesticides despite environmental, health and sustainable costs,"
Pesticide use by farmers:
- "used to reduce yield losses to pests"
- "avoid economic losses to ensure economical survival"
- "increase supply market and reduce market prices"
- "ignorance of sustainable use"
- "integral part of commercially grow high yielding varieties so without use, high yields may not be sustained"
- "damage to agriculture land from the use occurs over long period of time so costs may not look serious short term, but reduces economic welfare in long term"
- "environmental damage: pollutes rivers and groundwater, destroys beneficial predators and interferes with ecosystem overall"
- "health risks underestimated"
- "chemical companies selling it have incentive to push their use by advertising and promotion" (1,9).