Chemical testing and pesticide challenges in Southeast Asia Our expertise

1. Broaden knowledge and awareness

The World Vegetable Center’s research showed that most farmers are aware of the problem of pesticides but often have limited knowledge of alternatives or feel they have no choice. This is where large-scale interventions from government and trade associations are important to reduce Southeast Asia’s challenges with pesticides.

2. Better access to biopesticides

Many markets in this region need better availability of and access to biocontrol products such as biopesticides. This requires research as well as regulatory reform and perhaps incentives like subsidies. Governments and local authorities must increase monitoring, step up enforcement and restrict access to the most problematic pesticides and penalize traders who sell unsafe vegetables.

3. Dedicated product distribution

Another approach is for vegetable markets to have distinct channels for safe vegetables so that consumers have a choice and farmers can receive a price premium for quality products.

4. Improve MRL monitoring

Restricting access to the most problematic pesticides and fining traders who sell unsafe vegetables becomes key to ensure the safety of consumers. Many governments have enforced strict regulations on pesticide residues by looking at the maximum residue level (MRL), which is the highest amount of individual pesticide residue that is permitted to be present in or on food or animal feed.  

To effectively implement the approaches, governments must strengthen their capacity for monitoring and enforcement. Before a pesticide can be used on a food crop, a risk assessment must be performed by national authorities to determine whether it can be used without posing an unreasonable risk to human health.

Multiresidue pesticide residues are commonly analyzed by the following methods: gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS, GC-MS/MS) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

The GC-MS method is used especially for volatile compounds in complex samples and is a method of choice for less polar pesticides. Meanwhile, the LC-MS/MS method is more suitable for more polar pesticides as well as with pesticide metabolites, which are often more polar and less volatile than pesticide itself. Compounds which are thermolabile, not volatile, and have not been derivatized can be separated by LC-MS/MS.