Entomopathogenic nematodes in tropical agriculture: Current uses and their future in Venezuela

Abstract

In Venezuela, agricultural pest control is very frequently done using chemical products in indiscriminate manners, with adverse effects to human health and the environment. Thank to technological advances, today it is possible to identify chemical residues in food which were undetected in the past (Mol et al., 2008). For that reason, we can assume that the ingestion of fresh and processed vegetables and fruits which were considered innocuous in the past, could be affecting the consumers health. In fact, more than 1,500 chemical poisoning cases due to pesticides were reported in 2011 in the country (MPPS, 2011). Cholinesterase levels in blood have been correlated with poisoning due to organophosphate pesticides; in 2003, a study with a farmer community at Falcón State, indicated 60% of poisoning in the whole population (Zamora, 2003).