Annually, 32% of agricultural crops are attacked by pests and diseases in Islamic Republic of Iran. Therefore, crop protection occupies an important position in Iranian economic program. The annual use of pesticides in Iran is about 24,000 tons, of which the highest amounts are related to insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. In addition, pesticides are used at comparatively higher levels in Gilan province, whereas they are used at the lowest level in Sistan and Balouchestan province. With respect to the consumption level, it should to be noted that about 2,069,786 million dollars is spent on importing pesticides and raw materials into the country.The present survey includes all obsolete pesticides which are not currently in the list of national registered pesticides or cannot be used due to various reasons such as being damaged or decayed, having exceeded the expiry date, or being recommended not to be used by POPs and PlC conventions. To be able to assess the current situation, storage conditions, and the types and levels of existing obsolete pesticides, visits were made to the storage rooms and warehouses of organizations and companies, where obsolete pesticides are stored. The main organizations which store these pesticides in Iran are: 1. Agricultural Support and Service Company (ASSC), 2. Plant Protection Organization (PPO), 3. Rural Cooperative Organization (RCO), and 4. Cultivation and Industrial Units (CIUs).According to the latest information in 1382 (2003-2004), the existing levels of obsolete pesticides are 637 tons, about 396 tons of which are stored in ASSC warehouses. Also, because the largest ASSC warehouse is situated in Tehran province, the largest amount of obsolete pesticides is stored in this warehouse, which is about 308 tons.Due to the types of crops that can be cultivated, the amount of cultivated lands, and climatatic conditions, it was found that Gilan province had the highest and Kordestan province the lowest levels of obsolete pesticides.The statistical analysis of data has shown that there are no significant differences in the obsolete pesticide contents of the warehouses of the three organizations (ASSC, PPO and RCO, at a= 5% level) all over the country. Also, the amount of obsolete pesticides in the warehouses of the three organizations throughout the country is lower than the permitted levels compared to their annual usage of pesticides.

Data were obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Abuja in February 2021 on pesticides imports into Nigeria to ascertain costs and quantity of pesticides that were used in agricultural and sundry activities in Nigeria from 2010 to 2020 to make an empirical analysis based on pesticide use in Nigeria, Africa and globally. The annual net weight of pesticides used in Nigeria was 23,412.5 Mt, thus ranking Nigeria as the second largest pesticide user after South Africa. The total quantities of each of pesticide types; herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, soil fumigants and mosquito repellants over the 11years periods were 965,558.98, 188,132.37, 66, 129.62, 67,243.97 and 623.56 metric tons respectively, while the mean annual tonnage of each of the pesticide types for the same periods were 87,778.08, 17,102.9, 6,011.8, 6,113.1 and 56.7 metric tons in that order. The quantities of pesticide types used over the periods represent 74.98 %, 14.61 %, 5.14 %, 5.22 % and 0.5 % herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, soil fumigants and mosquito repellant coils respectively. Nigeria spent about 244 million US Dollars annually on pesticides, out of which 74 %, 16.6 %, 4.7%, 5.0 % and 0.06 % were on herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, soil fumigants and mosquito repellant coils respectively. Therefore, it could be concluded that the essence of pesticide use in Nigeria is in agriculture.

Background & Aims: Dimethoate as an organophosphorus compound is commonly used for crop production which is neurotoxic in human. Pseudomonas family harbor organophosphate degrading plasmids have been known as tools for cleaning environmental pollutions.Materials & Methods: Pseudomonas Putida was isolated from contaminated soil being identified and optimally cultured in mineral medium and was enriched with dimethoate. Bacterial utilization of dimethoate was determined by acetylcholine esterase inhibition (toxicity). The degrading plasmids for hydrolytic enzymes were deleted by acridine orange and transferred from resistance to sensitive strain.Results: Dimethoate was optimally utilized at 0.8 g/L concentration in mineral solution. The maximum dimethoate concentration tolerate by this bacterium was up 4.0 g/L in nutrient broth. The bacterial growth increased more than 2 folds in medium containing dimethoate in comparison with inorganic phosphate. Total proteins’ content that increased up to 357 mg/L was used as a known neuro-toxicity marker. Acetylcholine esterase activity was decreased by dimethoate in concentrations of 0.2-2.0 g/L in linear order but the inhibitory effect of dimethoate residue decreased 50-95% in P. Putida culture containing 2.0 g/L dimethoate after 48-96 hrs respectively. The resistance strain was lost degrading plasmids by acridine orange. The resistance plasmids were also transferred to sensitive strains.Conclusion: The mentioned plasmids express organophosphorus degrading enzymes and are supposed as effective techniques for cleaning of organophosphorus compounds as anti-nerve poisons and may be applicator of adverse effects of organophosphoruse compounds by modern technologies.