the ever-increasing pressure to increase food production to meet current demand requires protection of crops from pests. The use of pesticides is, therefore, inevitable, and constitutes an integral part of modern crop-management practices. It has been estimated that crop damage is as high as 20 per cent where pesticides are not used.

Pesticides include chemicals to protect crops from insects (insecticides), weeds (herbicides), disease-causing micro-organisms (fungicides and bactericides), mites (acaricides), nematodes (nematicides), and rodents (rodenticides). Pesticides also include chemicals that control pests directly hazardous to animals and humans, particularly vectors