In the town of Paarl, South Africa, around 200 women, mostly farmworkers, gathered to protest against Bayer, a European company. They demanded that the company stops exporting banned pesticides to South Africa. These women belonged to the Women on Farms Project (WFP), an organization that supports female farmworkers and farm dwellers in the Western Cape.
The South African provincial Health Department has recently reported a significant increase in poisoning cases involving children, with over a third of such incidents attributed to pesticides in homes. In 2022, 58 severe cases of pesticide poisoning and eight fatalities were recorded, calling for urgent action to address this issue.
Honeybees play a vital role in maintaining the health of the planet’s ecosystem. They are responsible for pollinating a third of the food we eat, including fruits, vegetables, and nuts. However, honeybees are facing numerous threats, such as habitat loss, pesticides, climate change, and disease, which have contributed to the decline in bee populations.
South Africa is currently facing a severe infestation of German cockroaches due to the rising temperatures and increasing humidity caused by climate change. CropLife, a nonprofit organization that represents manufacturers and suppliers of pesticides, has identified the usage of unregistered pesticides for indoor use and inadequate hygiene practices as the leading factors behind this outbreak.
