05/02/2026
Your Doctor is back!
All countries, Malawi not excluded, efforts to increase food production is a priority. To achieve this, there has been so much emphasis on increasing yields and the protection of harvests from pests by use of chemicals in the form of pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers.
Did you know that these chemicals (which we widely use) are a hazard to our health as human beings?
To put this into context, these chemicals we use are hazardous to plants, animals and the environment we live in. For instance: If we contaminate our water, human beings, animals and plants will drink poison and life gets affected.
Unless we learn to use them in the right regulated way, we shall continue to be bombarded, as humans, with strange episodes of life threatening and preventable diseases including cancers, lung and airway diseases, abdominal ailments, allergies, birth defects in children including brain challenges as well as many yet to be identified illnesses.
I am honoured to have been charged by His Excellency the State President of the Republic of Malawi Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika with the responsibility of Chairing Pesticide Control Board, an ultimate oversight body that is responsible for the safe use of pesticide chemicals in Malawi.
As a board, we are the team that ensures that pesticide chemicals that are either manufactured or imported into Malawi are not only effective and non counterfeit products, but also safe to those who will consume the food products or the resultant purpose they are meant to serve.
We are also responsible for ensuring that the importers, handlers, and users of the chemicals are safe by making sure they have adequate knowledge on use and self personal protection on using or handling the chemicals.
We are also responsible for the safe disposal of unused chemicals including the safe disposal of the containers that kept the pesticides.
Currently, the situation in the country is very dire.
Dangerous and banned chemicals have crossed our borders, most of them illegally.
Users of the chemicals lack knowledge on safe use and disposal as well as the absolute lack of a safe disposal facility in the country.
We also lack the services of a laboratory facility that can test the chemicals we use as a people.
As a result, our lives have been and continue to remain in constant danger. No wonder our people are spending time in hospitals with life threatening illnesses.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to act, conceited effort, now or never.
Stay in tune with our page for regular updates about the dangers of misuse of pesticides. We shall also be updating the public on proper usage to enhance public, plant, animal and environmental health.