The Usage Status of Pesticides for Vegetables under Greenhouse Cultivation in the Southern Area of Korea

This study was undertaken to survey the pesticides used under the greenhouse cultivation of 9 vegetable crops including cucumber, tomato, strawberry, eggplant, hot pepper, paprika, lettuce, perilla leaves and green onion in the Southern area during the period of 2003-2004. The total number of farmers investigated was 202 which consisted of 124 conventional growers and 78 environment-friendly growers. The farmers were requested to record with respect to the crop's name, cultivation acreage, growing practices (conventional/environment-friendly), use purpose, pesticide kinds, usage quantity and application time of pesticides. The average usage quantity of pesticides for the 9 crops was 3.30 kg ai/ha in conventional growing and 0.47 kg ai/ha in environment-friendly growing. The average application time of pesticides was 11 times in conventional and 2 times in environment-friendly growing, with more than 90% cases as a foliar application. The number of active ingredients of pesticides was 34 in conventional and 10 in environment-friendly growing on the average per crop. The purpose of pesticide application was as a fungicide in 56% cases and as an insecticide in 43% cases.