Fertilizer use intensity and pesticide consumption: an environmental assessment in Latin American countries during 2018–2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70577/asce.v5i2.862Keywords:
Latin America, Consumption, Dependence, Fertilizer, Environment, PesticideAbstract
The increase in agricultural production has driven greater consumption of agrochemicals to improve crop yields; however, this situation has generated problems such as soil degradation, water pollution, and biodiversity loss. In this context, the study sought to identify trends and variations in the use of these agricultural inputs in different Latin American countries. The objective was to evaluate the intensity of fertilizer use and pesticide consumption in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, and Peru during the period 2018–2023, in order to recognize potential environmental implications arising from the use of agrochemicals. The methodology was developed using a quantitative, qualitative, descriptive, and critical approach. Data were obtained from CEPALSTAT and corresponded to indicators related to fertilizers and pesticides. The analysis considered values expressed in kg/ha and tons/year, as well as trends and statistical variability with a 95% confidence level. The results showed heterogeneous behavior among countries. Colombia and Argentina registered the highest levels of agrochemical use, while Bolivia presented the lowest. Several countries showed a reduction in the intensity of fertilizer use by 2023, although Argentina maintained a sustained increase in pesticide consumption. It was concluded that intensive agriculture continues to represent a significant environmental risk in Latin America, making it necessary to strengthen sustainable agricultural practices and reduce dependence on agrochemicals.
Downloads
References
Akinsorotan, O. A., Akinsorotan, A. M., Adewale, R. O., & Akande, A. B. (2023). Detrimental Effects of Agrochemical-Based Agricultural Intensification on Biodiversity: Evidence from Some Past Studies. En M. C. Ogwu & S. Chibueze Izah (Eds.), One Health Implications of Agrochemicals and their Sustainable Alternatives (Vol. 34, pp. 275-298). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3439-3_10 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3439-3_10
Alcántara‐de La Cruz, R., Cruz‐Hipolito, H. E., Domínguez‐Valenzuela, J. A., & De Prado, R. (2021). Glyphosate ban in MEXICO: Potential impacts on agriculture and weed management. Pest Management Science, 77(9), 3820-3831. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.6362 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.6362
Arancibia, F., Motta, R. C., & Clausing, P. (2020). The neglected burden of agricultural intensification: A contribution to the debate on land-use change. Journal of Land Use Science, 15(2-3), 235-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2019.1659431 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2019.1659431
Bednar, P. M., & Welch, C. (2020). Socio-Technical Perspectives on Smart Working: Creating Meaningful and Sustainable Systems. Information Systems Frontiers, 22(2), 281-298. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-019-09921-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-019-09921-1
Cao, Y., Li, Y., Liu, T., Ye, Z., Lee, S., Geng, S., & Haou, C. (2025). Environmental sustainability and nutritional quality: Addressing global food and nutrition insecurity in a post-pandemic world. Frontiers in Nutrition, 12, 1703994. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2025.1703994 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2025.1703994
Damonte, G. H., Kluger, L. C., & Gonzales, I. E. (2023). Intertwined realities—Hybrid institutions in the Peruvian fisheries and aquaculture sectors. Maritime Studies, 22(2), 20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-023-00309-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-023-00309-1
De Groot, G. S., Morales, C. L., Aldea-Sanchez, P., Aizen, M. A., Antúnez, K., Arbulo, N., Basualdo, M., Branchiccela, B., Correa Benitez, A., Gutiérrez-Gamiño, E. Y., Herrera Salazar, N., Juri, P., Martinez, S. I., Molina, G. A. R., Pimentel Betancurt, D., Rodriguez-Fernández, J., Salvarrey, S., Silva-Neto, C. M., Vázquez, D. E., & Bogo, G. (2026). Global inequities in pesticide legislation: Nearly half of pesticides approved in major crops in Latin America are not allowed in the European Union. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 293(2063), 20250267. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.0267 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.0267
Dos Santos, F. L. B., & Vasconcelos, J. S. (2022). The Glyphosate Consensus: Rural Poverty Management and Agribusiness in South America During the Pink Tide (1998–2016). En P. Vommaro & P. Baisotti (Eds.), Persistence and Emergencies of Inequalities in Latin America (pp. 247-266). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90495-1_14 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90495-1_14
Galanakis, C. M. (2023). The “Vertigo” of the Food Sector within the Triangle of Climate Change, the Post-Pandemic World, and the Russian-Ukrainian War. Foods, 12(4), 721. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12040721 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12040721
García, V. R., Gaspart, F., Kastner, T., & Meyfroidt, P. (2020). Agricultural intensification and land use change: Assessing country-level induced intensification, land sparing and rebound effect. Environmental Research Letters, 15(8), 085007. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8b14 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8b14
Giller, K. E., Delaune, T., Silva, J. V., Descheemaeker, K., Van De Ven, G., Schut, A. G. T., Van Wijk, M., Hammond, J., Hochman, Z., Taulya, G., Chikowo, R., Narayanan, S., Kishore, A., Bresciani, F., Teixeira, H. M., Andersson, J. A., & Van Ittersum, M. K. (2021). The future of farming: Who will produce our food? Food Security, 13(5), 1073-1099. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01184-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01184-6
Hoshi, N. (2021). Adverse Effects of Pesticides on Regional Biodiversity and Their Mechanisms. En T. Matsuda, J. Wolff, & T. Yanagawa (Eds.), Risks and Regulation of New Technologies (pp. 235-247). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8689-7_12 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8689-7_12
Hu, Y., & Liu, Y. (2024). Impact of fertilizer and pesticide reductions on land use in China based on crop-land integrated model. Land Use Policy, 141, 107155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107155 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107155
Martinez, J. M., Labarta, R. A., Gonzalez, C., & Lopera, D. C. (2021). Joint adoption of rice technologies among Bolivian farmers. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2021.9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2021.9
Mukhovi, S., & Jacobi, J. (2022). Can monocultures be resilient? Assessment of buffer capacity in two agroindustrial cropping systems in Africa and South America. Agriculture & Food Security, 11(1), 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-022-00356-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-022-00356-7
Navarro, I., De La Torre, A., Sanz, P., Abrantes, N., Campos, I., Alaoui, A., Christ, F., Alcon, F., Contreras, J., Glavan, M., Pasković, I., Pasković, M. P., Nørgaard, T., Mandrioli, D., Sgargi, D., Hofman, J., Aparicio, V., Baldi, I., Bureau, M., … Martínez, M. Á. (2024). Assessing pesticide residues occurrence and risks in water systems: A Pan-European and Argentina perspective. Water Research, 254, 121419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.121419 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.121419
Olguín-Hernández, L., Carrillo-Rodríguez, J. C., Mayek-Pérez, N., Aquino-Bolaños, T., Vera-Guzmán, A. M., & Chávez-Servia, J. L. (2024). Patterns and Relationships of Pesticide Use in Agricultural Crops of Latin America: Review and Analysis of Statistical Data. Agronomy, 14(12), 2889. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14122889 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14122889
Osumanu, I. K., & Kosoe, E. A. (2023). Global Biodiversity Decline and Loss from Agricultural Intensification Through Agrochemical Application. En M. C. Ogwu & S. Chibueze Izah (Eds.), One Health Implications of Agrochemicals and their Sustainable Alternatives (Vol. 34, pp. 77-103). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3439-3_3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3439-3_3
Pahalvi, H. N., Rafiya, L., Rashid, S., Nisar, B., & Kamili, A. N. (2021). Chemical Fertilizers and Their Impact on Soil Health. En G. H. Dar, R. A. Bhat, M. A. Mehmood, & K. R. Hakeem (Eds.), Microbiota and Biofertilizers, Vol 2 (pp. 1-20). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61010-4_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61010-4_1
Paria, B., Pani, A., Mishra, P., & Behera, B. (2021). Irrigation-based agricultural intensification and future groundwater potentiality: Experience of Indian states. SN Applied Sciences, 3(4), 449. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-021-04417-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-021-04417-7
Pérez, D. J., Iturburu, F. G., Calderon, G., Oyesqui, L. A. E., De Gerónimo, E., & Aparicio, V. C. (2021). Ecological risk assessment of current-use pesticides and biocides in soils, sediments and surface water of a mixed land-use basin of the Pampas region, Argentina. Chemosphere, 263, 128061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128061 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128061
Rashmi, I., Roy, T., Kartika, K. S., Pal, R., Coumar, V., Kala, S., & Shinoji, K. C. (2020). Organic and Inorganic Fertilizer Contaminants in Agriculture: Impact on Soil and Water Resources. En M. Naeem, A. A. Ansari, & S. S. Gill (Eds.), Contaminants in Agriculture (pp. 3-41). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41552-5_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41552-5_1
Smith, G. M. (2023). “Blighted Futures: The Soybean Assemblage and Argentina’s Agro-extractive Turn”. Geoforum, 141, 103717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103717 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103717
Tittonell, P. (2020). Assessing resilience and adaptability in agroecological transitions. Agricultural Systems, 184, 102862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2020.102862 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2020.102862
Vera-Candioti, J., Araujo, P. I., Huerga, I. R., Rojas, D. E., Cristos, D. S., & Malmantile, A. D. (2021). Pesticides detected in surface and groundwater from agroecosystems in the Pampas region of Argentina: Occurrence and ecological risk assessment. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 193(10), 689. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09462-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09462-8
Xiang, T., Malik, T. H., & Nielsen, K. (2020). The impact of population pressure on global fertiliser use intensity, 1970–2011: An analysis of policy-induced mediation. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 152, 119895. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.119895 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.119895
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Diego Xavier Valladolid-Zaruma , Ramón Gabriel Aguilar Vega , Jonathan Gabriel Castro Castro , Luis Pauro Flores , Paola Margarita Suin Miranda
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Eres libre de:
- Compartir : copiar y redistribuir el material en cualquier medio o formato
- Adaptar : remezclar, transformar y desarrollar el material
- El licenciante no puede revocar estas libertades siempre y cuando usted cumpla con los términos de la licencia.
En los siguientes términos:
- Atribución : Debe otorgar el crédito correspondiente , proporcionar un enlace a la licencia e indicar si se realizaron cambios . Puede hacerlo de cualquier manera razonable, pero no de ninguna manera que sugiera que el licenciante lo respalda a usted o a su uso.
- No comercial : no puede utilizar el material con fines comerciales .
- CompartirIgual — Si remezcla, transforma o construye sobre el material, debe distribuir sus contribuciones bajo la misma licencia que el original.
- Sin restricciones adicionales : no puede aplicar términos legales ni medidas tecnológicas que restrinjan legalmente a otros hacer algo que la licencia permite.
