Addressing the Impact of Pesticides on the Food Chain for Human and Ecosystem Health

Felix Kwabena Donkor*

The SDGs of “zero hunger” (SDG 2) as well as “good health and wellbeing” (SDG 3) are two cross-cutting themes that are vital for humanity to thrive. However, a confluence of factors such as rapid population growth, urbanisation, and poor land use/ agricultural practices has compromised efforts at these noble goals. As the timeline for attaining the SDGs draws closer, it has become urgent to find effective measures that will address some of the core challenges therein and advance these SDGs. One such pressing issue is the abuse of pesticide use. This study adopts qualitative methods involving the systematic study of literature to investigate how the use of pesticides affects the food chain with implications for ecosystem and human health. The study shows that pesticide contamination of food chains is a significant ecological and public health concern because these synthetic compounds do not remain confined to their target application sites. Instead, they disperse through runoff, atmospheric drift, and leaching into soils and water bodies, where they enter complex trophic networks. This initiates a cascade of trophic transfer that can propagate contamination upward through the food chain. Targeted public sensitisation, enforcement of laws, capacity building and a shift towards more organic approaches will help surmount this challenge with implications for global food security, ecosystem health and attainment of the SDGs 2 and 3.

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Published on: Aug 31, 2026 Pages: 9-16

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/jfsnt.000060
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