How do pesticides contribute towards food security?

Meeting demand and avoiding wastage - Pesticides ensure a healthy crop and limit crop losses by keeping crops free of pests and diseases as they grow and during storage and transportation. For some foods, such as potatoes, the losses of yield would reach up to 75% if no pesticide were used (See E.-C. OERKE, Crop losses to pest, Journal of Agricultural Science (2006), 144, 31–43. f 2005 Cambridge University Press ).

Over 35% of the world’s food supply would be lost without the use of crop protection products.

There will be 1.5 billion more mouths to feed by 2020. Pesticides will help to ensure that the productivity of the land can feed these people sustainability. Crops that are physically damaged can have reduced nutritional value. For example, apples affected by scab have lower levels of sugars, malic acids, minerals and vitamins; cereals damaged by mildew, rust, Septoria blotch, or competition from weeds have reduced starch, protein and mineral levels.