Weedkillers
Disadvantages
Relevance in Agriculture
Advantages
Chemical herbicides can be very dangerous and harmful for everyone from field workers to people who buy food grown using these chemicals.
eliminates the weeds resulting in greater crop yield, fewer food shortages and lower food prices
Kills most of the weeds that survive the basic stage of mimicry with the other plants around
Can kill weeds when manual weeding leads to crop damage
Herbicides are convenient to use on perennial and parasitic weeds where other methods are not effective
It can cause skin irritation and when inhaling these chemicals it irritates the throat and nasal passages
While one time application of a herbicide is often enough, the manual/mechanical method is repetitive
when they decompose, they give new plants minerals.
herbicides are safe on erodable and sloppy lands where tillage may accelerate soil and water erosion
They do not harm the crops unlike manual weeding
Herbicides can kill many weeds that survive by mimicry, e.g. Phalaris minor and Avena spp. in wheat and Echinochloa spp. in rice.
In many parts of the country the cost of weed control through herbicides is lower than that of manual weeding
The chemicals in herbicides contribute to air,water and soil pollution thus reducing air quality and harming aquatic life.
Herbicides enable early and timely planting of crops.
By using artificial means to stop the growth of weeds you are interfering with nature and thus nature will make it much more difficult
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Provide economical boost to farmers thus benefiting the economy of the entire country.
This resistance increases herbicide costs for farmers and results in a larger quantity of herbicides in the soil.
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There will be a lot of resistance faced by the weeds due to nature making the weeds adapt to the new challenges
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Chemical herbicides pose health dangers for everyone from field workers to people who buy food grown using these chemicals.
The constant use of chemicals on the land may cause the land to be unusable in the future due to chemicals polluting the land and thus crops wont be able to grow there
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Chemical herbicides contribute to air, water and soil pollution
Can be used effectively even when crops are closely planted together.
My Statement: Overall, Chemical weed killers cause much more harm then good, because though it might be efficient in reducing the weed's growth, you are using artificial means on nature's land and these artificial means will make the land unusable in the future unless more sustainable practices are followed.