The pesticide use in the world increased between 2000 and 2021 by 62%, reaching 3.5 million tons in 2021, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Major companies producing a wide range of chemicals to protect agricultural crops from pests, diseases and weeds on the planet include Bayer Crop Science (Germany), Syngenta (Switzerland), Corteva Agriscience (United States), BASF (Germany), FMC Corporation (United States), Sumitomo Chemical (Japan), Adama Agricultural Solutions (Israel) and Nufarm (Australia).
Almost all of the increase in pesticide use occurred between 2000 and 2016, with a small decline until 2018 and renewed growth thereafter.
The largest contributions came from the Americas, followed by Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania.
The share of the Americas, the largest contributor, increased from 41 to 50% of global pesticide consumption, while that of Asia and Europe decreased by 5 to 6 percentage points, to 28 and 14%, respectively.
Africa and Oceania applied small amounts of pesticides over time, but despite this Africa recorded the largest growth in pesticide applications (+176 percent).
Pesticide use
For its part, Brazil was the largest user of pesticides in 2021, with 0.72 million tons, or 20% of the world total, well ahead of the United States of America (0.46 million tons) and Indonesia (0.28 million tons).
Global pesticide use per crop area increased by 35% in the 2000s, from 1.5 kg/ha to 2.0 kg/ha; growth then slowed to only 14% between 2010 and 2021, albeit with some significant regional differences.
Pesticide application rates in 2021 were highest in the Americas by a wide margin (4.7 kg/ha), followed by Oceania, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Brazil
Asia and Europe were the only regions where pesticide use per cropland area decreased between the early 2010s and 2021
Among the top pesticide users in 2021 mentioned above, Brazil had the highest use per crop area (10.9 kg/ha), nearly four times the value of the United States of America (2.9 kg/ha) and nearly six times the value of China (1.9 kg/ha).