Book Description

The pesticide story began in the 1980s with outbreaks of migratory pests, including locusts. Donors provided pesticides, including persistent organic pollutants (POPs), to help control outbreaks. Several storage depots were set up across the country. Some of the pesticides were not used and remained in the depots where they started to leak from their containers into the soil. Between 1995 and 2003 two projects collected over 300 tonnes from government storage depots and identified 42 tonnes of farmer-held obsolete pesticides. The stocks were taken to a warehouse in Sebele before being disposed of through high temperature incineration in 2003. From 2002 to 2012 the government started collecting empty plastic containers (EPCs) and obsolete stocks. While the accumulation of obsolete stocks had fallen through awareness of the problem raised by these projects, it was still a problem. Also, nothing had been done about the POPs contaminated soils left behind after the government depots had been cleared. The Africa Stockpiles Program continued to raise the issue of POPs contamination. 28. It was in this context, that discussions began in 2008 that led to the design and funding of this Project to deal with contaminated soils and to strengthen pesticide lifecycle management to reduce accumulation of obsolete pesticides and the risk from pesticides in general. The Project document identified “serious gaps in Botswana’s ability to control all aspects of the pesticide life cycle” including the capacity to control imports; gaps in pesticide and waste legislation; and need for improved management of pesticide registrations.