Abstract
Pesticides used against bioagressors have an important role in increasing agricultural productivity in
the last 50 years, despite diminishing crop land acreage. In fact, pesticides have now become an
integral part to protect agricultural productions. It has been estimated that globally nearly $38 billion
are spent on pesticides each year. In this context, the groundwater resource protection is a compromise
factor for a sustainable use of pesticides and will constitute one of the greatest challenges facing
Tunisian’s government today. Two main strategies could be considered, (i) to optimize the use of
pesticides by adopting the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach and (ii) to reduce the
environmental impact by using the Best Irrigation Practices (BIP) and the Best Soil Management
Practices (BSMP). However, in the last approach, the reduction of pesticide leaching to groundwater
can reach 50% when BMP and BSMP are considered. The main purpose of this paper is to review the
new evidence concerning the groundwater environmental protection considering BSMP and BIP
concepts as two essential components to strengthen the IPM concept. For this, a synthesis of research
works from national and international experiences is undertaken. The results of these experiences are
described and analysed according to their relevance on BIP and BSMP to reduce environmental impact
of pesticides upon groundwater.
Citation
ID:
251757
Ref Key:
bchir2016tunisianan