Chemical uses (herbicides, pesticides & fertilizers)
Hitchcock, in 1891, stated the cultivation of pine apple was a main crop on the islands but chiefly grown on Eleuthera. The red soil produced the finest fruit though the soil was, “strangely enough, wearing out.” It is here in his writing that we have our first evidence of a chemical fertilizer, imported from the United States, that allowed the land to yield large returns .
According to a 2006 study, “GIWA Regional Assessment 3a for the Caribbean Small Island subsystem”, the impact of chemical pollution for the region was rated moderate. Several findings, as a result of the study included:
land clearance practices
inefficient irrigation
use of agrochemicals damage surface and groundwaters
the use of low lying wetlands for rice cultivation requires heavy pesticide use; in St Kitts and Nevis water resources are susceptible to agricultural pollution due to its low lying position
industrial pollution is particularly a problem in Trinidad and Tobago (sugar, rum, petrochemical, paint, agro-processing and metal).
Croteau, Maxine C., Natacha Hogan, Jennifer C. Gibson, David Lean, and Vance L. Trudeau. 2008. “Toxicological Threats to Amphibians and Reptiles in Urban Environments.” In Urban Herpetology, edited by J.C. Mitchell, R.E. Jung Brown, and B. Bartholomew, 197–209. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.
An article written in December, 2015, “BANNED PESTICIDES USED IN THE CARIBBEAN“, can be read here.
An interesting BBC article, “The Caribbean islands poisoned by a carcinogenic pesticide“, written in November, 2020 can be read here.
The greatest use of pesticides takes place, ironically enough, on the larger continents with more developed economies. The top ten countries that use vast amounts of chemicals are shown in the graph below.
There is some good news in the Caribbean; the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the Coordinating Group of Pesticides Control Boards in eleven countries ( Antigua, Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Saint Lucia. Saint Vincent/the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad/Tobago) have developed projects to manage the collection of “obsolete pesticides”, promote alternatives, ensure proper disposal of collected chemicals and encourage the recycling of empty chemical containers.
