BANGLADESH, an agriculture-dependent nation, sustains millions of livelihoods through farming. Yet, with finite arable land and a growing population, farmers are under relentless pressure to produce more. In this struggle, pesticides have become indispensable — deployed widely to combat crop-threatening pests and diseases. While pesticides can be vital to safeguarding yields and ensuring food security, their misuse, unregulated distribution and the weak enforcement of laws have turned them into a growing hazard for public health and environmental safety. In this context, it is crucial to examine the development of pesticide legislation, confront on-ground realities and reimagine the path ahead from the vantage point of those engaged in agriculture and legal reform.
The regulation of pesticides in Bangladesh has its roots in the colonial and post-colonial eras. The earliest formal legal framework came into effect during the Pakistan period through the Pesticide Ordinance of 1971. Following independence, this ordinance continued to serve as the foundational legislation until it was replaced by the Pesticide Rule of 1985. A more substantial legal overhaul came in the form of the Pesticide Act 2018, now the central legislation for governing the registration, importation, distribution and application of pesticides in the country.
The framework outlined in these laws mandates the registration of all pesticides before they enter the market, establishes licensing procedures for importers and sellers and sets guidelines for labelling, storage and safe handling. It also formed the Pesticide Technical Advisory Committee to evaluate applications for pesticide use and to recommend approval, restriction, or bans based on scientific evidence. Enforcement responsibilities fall to the Department of Agricultural Extension under the Ministry of Agriculture. However, despite structural foundations, the legal apparatus has seen little evolution in decades, even as international standards for pesticide management have rapidly progressed.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has played a significant role in advancing pesticide governance in Bangladesh. A key area of its collaboration has been the promotion of the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management — a globally recognised, voluntary framework for responsible pesticide use. This partnership has helped Bangladesh in safe disposal of obsolete pesticides, the adoption of Integrated Pest Management and modernisation of regulatory practices.
Support has also extended to capacity building: strengthening laboratories to detect pesticide residues in food and the environment, providing training for field inspectors and initiating digitisation of the pesticide registration process. These interventions signal progress, but the benefits remain unevenly distributed and often fail to reach the grassroots.
Despite legal and technical frameworks, the reality in rural Bangladesh tells a more sobering story. Illegal, unregistered, and counterfeit pesticides are widely available. Retailers — often lacking any formal training — freely sell these products, with little concern for their legality or safety. Labels on such products are frequently incomplete, misleading, or in foreign languages, making them inaccessible to local farmers. Many retail points operate without licences and inspections are sporadic and severely under-resourced.
Farmers, particularly smallholders and marginal producers, are vulnerable. Lacking proper guidance, they frequently use pesticides in excessive quantities, mix incompatible chemicals and apply them without protective gear. This misuse leads to acute poisoning, long-term health complications, and environmental degradation. Water bodies are contaminated, soils lose fertility and food carries hazardous residues. Children and pregnant women in farming households bear a disproportionate burden of exposure and its consequences.
Enforcement remains the weakest link. The Department of Agricultural Extension suffers from a shortage of skilled personnel and lacks modern equipment for field testing or real-time surveillance. Moreover, effective pesticide regulation requires cooperation across ministries — such as the Ministry of Environment, Customs, and the Ministry of Health—but such coordination remains largely absent. Without institutionalised inter-agency collaboration, enforcement becomes fragmented, allowing harmful practices to flourish unchecked.
What Bangladesh urgently needs is a renewed and reoriented approach to pesticide governance. The registration process must become stricter, grounded in independent and science-based risk assessments that consider both human health and biodiversity. Retailers and importers must be held to account, with clear responsibilities and traceable supply chains.
Enforcement must be overhauled. Field inspectors require better training and tools, including mobile testing units and digital monitoring platforms that can track pesticide sales in real time. The introduction of a centralised digital database could also curb the circulation of illegal products and improve transparency throughout the supply chain.
Training for farmers must be made a national priority — not limited to sporadic donor projects, but embedded within government extension services. Awareness campaigns should focus not only on safe pesticide usage but also on viable alternatives. Promoting agroecological farming, crop rotation, pest-resistant seed varieties and community-based pest surveillance can significantly reduce dependence on chemical inputs.
Educational curricula in agricultural training institutes must address the ecological and health dimensions of pesticide use. Special outreach is needed for smallholder farmers who are most at risk. Simultaneously, incentive structures should reward communities that adopt sustainable pest management practices, with recognition programmes for unions and villages that demonstrate best practices.
On the legal front, penalties for violating pesticide laws must be made stricter and more visible. Existing punishments do not serve as effective deterrents. There must be clarity and consistency in enforcement, one that sends a strong signal throughout the supply chain that safety and compliance are non-negotiable.
It must be reiterated that pesticide use in itself is not inherently harmful. Rather, it is the unregulated, uninformed and exploitative misuse that turns a tool of productivity into a vehicle of harm. In a country where food security, health and livelihoods are intimately intertwined, the regulation of pesticide use cannot remain a bureaucratic formality. It must become a dynamic, science-driven and people-oriented process.
The existing legal and institutional architecture provides a base, but it is no longer sufficient. To build a safer and more sustainable agricultural future, we need bold reforms backed by strong political will, effective institutional collaboration and active community engagement.
With committed action by government agencies, local institutions, global partners, and, most importantly, the farming communities themselves, Bangladesh can become a model for responsible pesticide governance. But for that transformation to begin, we must first acknowledge the gaps, confront the risks and act decisively. The health of our farmers, the safety of our food and the future of our environment depend on it.
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Abdur Rahman Al-Mamun is a student and agricultural researcher. Tahsina Zaman is a legal researcher.
