Message to Orchardists

Let me put this message in a lucid fashion for a wider audience and for the benefit of the farmers associated mainly with horticulture in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Your work drives the state’s economy, so you deserve support and thanks.

We all know that the spring season has arrived with a buzz in horticulture-related activities. I wish this season and the year bring charm to your faces with good horticulture produce. You invest a lot in your business with the aim of getting more benefits; may you get all that you deserve and aim for. You work tirelessly in your orchards to maintain and look after each and every single tree in it like you take care of your own family; kindly maintain this affection and care all the time, all the years till you can.

Your personal physical as well as mental health is of paramount importance to all of us. If you are healthy, your orchards will remain healthy, so the health of the economy of our state, Jammu and Kashmir. While you work in your orchards this season with respect to spraying of various recommended oils and pesticides, you must, kindly note, take care of your self. Kindly follow all the guidelines given from time to time by the experts in the field during pesticide spraying sessions.

Besides everything you do in orchards, during oil and pesticide, fungicide and any other sprays, you must put on recommended clothes, eye screens, face masks, hand gloves, etc., to keep your body away from the direct contact of the potentially hazardous oils and pesticides. Let me be specific and honest: if you don’t follow the standard precautionary measures during spraying sessions, you directly put your health in great danger. There are thousands of examples of health hazards of pesticides, and I can’t mention all. Remember, once you are exposed to these harmful pesticides, your body gets affected. Most of the pesticides have been proven to have the elements which are very lethal and may lead to damage certain tissues in your body and those tissues and organs may become cancerous (a deadly disease).

As a horticulturalist from a humble village, Gowhar Pora, Chadoora, I have noticed several times the potentially dangerous mistakes made by the people during spraying sessions. Kindly avoid them, and try to follow standard procedure’s as follows.

• Don’t tear with your teeth a bag or a container filled with oil or pesticide; most of the farmers do this being ignorant of dangerous health hazards. Always use scissors or a knife or a similar tool to cut the bag or container filled with pesticides.
• Don’t dissolve oil or pesticides in water with bare hands; put on elbow-length nylon gloves while mixing oil or pesticides in a container/tank.
• Always wear water proof apron or a long jacket with inbuilt cap to cover you from head to toe, this is extremely mandatory to protect your body from direct contact with the pesticides.
• Always, without fail, put on eyeglasses/screens and a good-quality face mask to avoid inhalation of drops/mist of the pesticides. If you do this, you are 90% protected.
• Lastly, but not the last, maintain a decent gap between you and the tree to create a 45° angle between the ground and the spray gun so as to avoid vertical spraying. If you don’t follow this step as mentioned, the chances increase manifold that you become more prone to pesticide inhalation due to a mist zone formation around a tree while spraying. Letus obey guidelines to keep dangerous health consequences away.

Dr. Ashraf Zainabi, teacher and researcher