Pesticide usage in Turkey increases by 57% in last decade

The amount of agricultural pesticide used in Turkey increased to 59 thousand tons since 2009. The southern province of Antalya saw the highest increase. The usage of pesticides increased by 57 percent in the last decade.

 

The total amount of pesticides used in 2017 increased to 54.098 tons compared to 2016, with a 8.08 percent rise, according to the Environmental Indicators booklet published by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanism.
 

Fungicides are the most used pesticide in Turkey, they constitute 44 percent of total usage in 2017. They are followed by insecticides with 22.8 percent, herbicides with 23.5 percent, acaricides) with 4.9 percent, and rodenticides with 0.5 percent. They are followed by other types of pesticides, namely the plant activators, plant growth regulators, insect attractants, fumigants and nematocysts, the total usage of which is 12.4 percent.
 

According to the estimates by the Agriculture Engineers Chambers, the usage of agricultural pesticide would increase by 9 percent to 59 thousand tons for 2018.
 

According to these figures, the total amount of agricultural pesticide used in Turkey, which was 37.651 tons in 2009, increased by 57 percent to 59 thousand tons in a decade.
 

As of 2017, five provinces with most pesticide usage are Antalya (10.1% of total usage), Manisa (9%), Adana (9%), Mersin (5.7%), and Aydın (5.7%). Antalya leads the way in the usage of pesticide. The amount of pesticides used in Antalya in 2018 is 5.959 tons.