Producing Pesticide Free Fruits And Vegetables

There is demand world over for pesticide free food, but the information
on the various natural pesticides is lacking and therefore, these
methods are little used in Pakistan and other developing countries. In
the developed countries, the methods being labour intensive are costly
and only marginally competitive. A number of articles have been
written on Neem products as pesticides, but extracting Azadirachtin in
powder form has failed in Pakistan, inspite of the claims to the
contrary, as processing technique have not been fully understood. The
process of extraction is known theoretically, but has not made any
headway, although there is great scope for its export too.

The other species growth in Pakistan in abundance have never been

tried. Even neem known to work for control of many insects, pests,
fungi, nematodes and viral diseases is used in a very primitive manner
and by processes which are not practical, except on a small scale for
kitchen garden or plots less than an acre. A solution has to be found for
its commercial scale applications and extraction on much larger scale. If
the market price is guaranteed by the government, private sector can
achieve results easily.

Many fruits and vegetable crops have properties of controlling many

insects and diseases and such crops though commonly grown
commercially have a certain percentage of products rejected as
unmarketable. This part of crops could easily be collected and sold to
plants, if they are established on small scale in the rural areas near the
farms. Such fruits and vegetbales are:

 Custard apple (Annona reticulata).

 Basil (Sweet Basil) and Holy Basil.
 Chillies (Capsicum frutes), (Fam. Sollanacea).
 Garlic (Allium Sativum) (F. Lilacae).
  Ginger (Zingber officiate) (fm. Zingiberatase).
 Neem.
 Papaya (Carcia papaya).
 Tobacco (Nictana tabacum, Nicotana, Rustica).
 Nicotana glutnosa (Fam. Ziberacease).

These plants have pesticide properties in their seeds, leaves, stalks, un-
ripe fruit, bulbs rhizomes etc., and act by different modes of action.
Each one control different pests like; aphids, caterpillars, green bugs,
fruit flies, leaf minors, red spiders, ants, slugs, house flies, mites, white
flies, bacteria, scab, bowl-worm, thrips, anthracnose, hoppers, scales,
termites, thrips, mosaic virus, powder mildew etc. Table attached gives
names of some of these agricultural species and their pesticide
properties.

Insect-controlling Plants.

Plants of pest control should posses the following characteristics:

 Be effective at the rate of max 3-5% plant material based on dry

weight.
 Be easy to grow, require little space and time for cultivation and
procurement.
 Be perennial.
 Recover quickly after the material is harvested.
 Not to became weed or a host to plant pathogen or insect pest.
 Possess complementary economic uses.
 Pose no hazard to non-target organisms, wild life, humans or
environment.
 Be easy to harvest.
 Preparation should be simple, to too time consuming or requiring
too high a technical input.
 Application should not be phytotoxic or decrease the quality of
crop, e.g., taste or texture.
 Species Plant parts Mode of Target pest
with insect action
controlling
properties
Soursop Seeds, leaves, Contact and Aphid, caterpillars,
unripe fruit. stomach problem, Green bug,
Custard apple ovicidal, Mediterranean fruit
insecticidal, fly.
(Annona repellent,
reticulata) antifeedent and
antinematode.
Basil. Leaves and Repellent, Fruit fly, leaf miners,
stem. insecticidal, red spider and mites.
Sweet Basil fungitoxic and
(Ocimum mollu scicidol.
basilium), Holy
Basil (Ocimum
Sanctum).

Chillies. Fruit Stomach position Ants, aphid,

insecticidal, caterpillars and slugs.
repellent,
antifeedent,
fumigant-viroid.
Garlic. Bulbs. Insecticidal, Aphids, house flies,
repellent, mites, white fly,
Allium Sativum antifeedent, bacteria, cucumber
(Fam. Lilaceqe). fungicidal, and scab.
nematocidal and
effective against
ticks.
Ginger. Rhizome. Repellent, American bowl
insecticidal, worms, aphid, thrips,
Zingber officiale nematocidal and white fly, and mango
(Fam. fungicidal. anthracnose.
Zingiberacae).

Neem. Seeds and Insecticidal, American boll-worms,

leaves. repellent, ants, deserts, locust,
antifeedant leaf hoppers, leaf
 acaricidal, growth miners, mites, scales,
inhibiting termites, thrips, white
nematocidal, fly.
fungicidal, anti-
viral. Neem
compounds act
mainly as
stomach poison
and systemic.

Papaya. Leaves, seed, Flower thrips and Mosaic virus and

unripe and fruit fly. powdery mildew.
Carcia papaya. fruit.

Tobacco. Leaves and Insecticida, Aphids, caterpillars,

stalk. repellent, leaf miners, mites and
Nicotana fungicidal, thrips.
tabacum, acaricidal contact,
Nicotana Rustica, and stomach.
Nicotana
glutnosa, and
Fam. Solanaceae.
Tumeric. Rhizome. Repellent, Aphids, caterpillars,
insecticidal and mites and rice leaf
Curcum domstica antifungal. hoppers.
(Fam.
Zigiberaceoe).

About the Author

By Farzana Panhwar (Mrs)
The Sindh Rural Women's Up-lift Group
157-C, Unit No.2, Latifabad, Hyderabad (Sindh), Pakistan.
farzanapanhwar@hotmail.com
Fax: 9221-5830826 and 92221-862570

I am a bio-chemist working in the field of organic agriculture and effects of pollution

and environment of human and animal and plant health.