Herbicides: Bad news for local food security

📅 Published: August 26, 2025

📰 Source: theindependent

Curated by AllZimNews.com

The use of herbicides — substances that control unwanted plants — is on the rise across Africa.

This trend has been referred to by some researchers as the “herbicide revolution”.

This trend is driven by cheap herbicides flooding into the continent from Asia and global agrochemical companies discovering Africa’s emerging markets.

Also, rural wages have risen due to rural-urban migration and structural transformation.

Herbicides may help to raise yields, thereby contributing to food security.

They also reduce the large labour burden associated with manual weeding, which is often done by women and children.

Studies suggest that herbicides can reduce labour use for weeding by 90%.

A study in Zambia suggests that herbicide can reduce labour use for weeding from up to 70 to 10 days per hectare.

However, herbicides may also have negative effects on environmental and human health, particularly when substances are not carefully handled and no protective equipment is used.

Unintentional pesticide poisoning kills 11 000 people every year, according to a global study.

In the quest to assess these trade-offs one aspect has received limited attention: the role of edible weeds, which can be key elements of rural food baskets, yet are targeted by herbicides.

In a new study, we explored the role of edible weeds in rural diets in Zambia and how herbicides affect their consumption.