As one of the fastest growing countries in Asia, the Philippines faces environmental challenges,

with disproportionate impacts on the poor and women. Ineffective management seriously
degrades the country’s significant biodiversity resources; land, water, and air pollution levels
exceed generally accepted healthy standards, and the country is ranked as one of the world’s
most vulnerable to the impacts of environmental disasters.

Land pollution is a heavy topic. With its direct impact on the environment and consequently on
the health of humans, animals, and plants, soil pollution is a real problem that involves both
political powers and citizens. And since soil is not a renewable resource, its degradation can be
rapid (a few years or decades) while it takes several thousands of years to form and regenerate.

In response to rising demand, agricultural output in the Philippines has followed an upward path
over the past several decades, growing by an average of 2.5 percent per year from 1961 to 2010.
Global trade is also a major driver of the country’s agricultural production, providing more
opportunities for major export crops while providing wider choice for key importables, such as
cereals. In response to these drivers, the structure of agriculture has been changing, away from
resource-based sectors (forestry and capture fishery) toward cereals, livestock, and poultry, as
well as aquaculture. Composition of exports has shifted from traditional crops and raw materials
toward fruit exports and processed or semi-processed goods. On the import side, the country
continues to increase importation of cereals, dairy products, and processed food.
Land pollution is the cause of many different factors that ultimately pollute the land. These
factors include solid waste, deforestation, chemical, and agricultural activities. Many of these
cause a bad effect on the environment.
Consumption of chemical fertilizers has been trending upward over the past few decades, in step
with growth of output and area harvested. The national consumption of nitrogenous fertilizers
increased by 1,658 percent from 35,815 tons in 1961 to 629,808 tons in 2004, with an annual
average increase of 10,406 ton/ year. However, from 2004 to 2013, there was a general decrease
in nitrogenous fertilizer consumption by 54 percent, from 629,000 tons to 287,000 tons. In the
late 2000s, the spike in fertilizer prices led to reduced fertilizer consumption in absolute terms.
Fertilizer application in the Philippines varies widely by type of crop and by region/province.
Similar to fertilizers, pesticide use has been increasing, based on increased importation of the
product from 1993 to 2008, after which imports fell steeply. Pesticide use is highest for the
control of insects, followed by fungi and weeds. The largest gross application of pesticides
among the important crops grown in the Philippines is the rice crop, primarily due to extensive
areas planted with rice all over the country. Beginning from the 1980s, the frequency of
insecticide application increased up to four times during the cropping for both wet and dry
seasons. However, insecticide application in rice crop in the Philippines is the lowest compared
with other Asian countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and China. In rice growing
areas, application rates of insecticides have been falling in recent years, though herbicide
application rates have been rising. Herbicides are applied early in the cropping season to control
weed growth and to minimize labor costs for weeding. The other important crops that are heavily
applied with pesticides are vegetables and banana. Farmers in Benguet were spraying chemical
pesticides 12 to 32 times per season to control the diamondback moth, the most destructive pest
attacking crucifers such as broccoli, pechay, cabbage, radish, cauliflower, and mustard in 1992.
This intensive use of synthetic insecticides resulted in problems such as resistance to other
insecticides, high cost of insecticides, toxic hazards, contamination of soil and water, and
reduction of natural enemies and pollinators. Fungicides are the most commonly used pesticides
in banana plantations in Mindanao.
Vegetables commonly bought in public markets and consumed by Filipinos, including bitter
gourd, eggplant, pechay, and tomato, were found to have traces of combination of pesticide
residues ranging from as low as 2 to as many as 10 different pesticides. Concentrations of
cypermethrin residues in bitter gourd, pechay, and tomato; lambda-cyhalothrin in bitter gourd;
and chlorpyrifos and diazinon in pechay exceeding the maximum residue limit (MRL) were
detected. Soil samplings along river tributaries in Central Luzon and along the Pampanga River
yield no significant findings for pesticide contaminants.
The pollutants from the vegetable and rice farming activities within the Pagsanjan-Lumban
catchment affect the fisheries in the area (Varca 2012). Among the pesticides used, the
pyrethroids (lambda-cyhalothrin, deltamethrin, and cypermethrin) were identified to be highly
toxic under laboratory conditions to the tilapia fingerling and freshwater shrimp. The maximum
measured concentration of profenofos (15.4 µg/L) and pyrethroids (3–6 µg/L) in the field
samples collected in the Pagsanjan-Lumban catchment were above the 48 h LC50 values.
Moreover, the sediment-bound contaminants cause changes to the food source of crabs,
freshwater shrimp, and fish (Bajet et al 2012). Poor pesticide management practices may result in
decline of rice-fish cultures and other invertebrates. Pesticide misuse can cause great health
impacts in the farming communities in the Philippines. Numerous researches correlated the
extent of direct and indirect pesticide exposure to health hazards such as headache, muscle pain,
cough, weakness, eye and chest pain, and eye redness. Farmer-users are especially vulnerable to
health effects attributed to pesticides.
Even a layman with a basic understanding about land pollution facts will be able to come up with
solutions for the same. Such solutions can be derived from the causes themselves. The following
are some of the solutions for land pollution. As the most common cause for land pollution is
waste disposal, most of the control measures are associated with that. Proper waste disposal is
one of the golden rules for curbing land pollution. This is much more important in case of
disposal of toxic waste products. Industries must follow the laws with regard to waste disposal.
One of the major land pollution solutions is recycling. Apart from reducing the amount of waste
products in the landfills, it also helps in curbing the dumping of non-biodegradable waste on the
Earth. Recycling is also beneficial in lowering other forms of pollution, cost savings and savings
of energy resources. You must also try to reuse materials, if possible. Reusing is always
beneficial than buying new ones. For example, you may use plastic and cardboard containers for
further use. Otherwise store them and sell them for recycling. You may also make some money
by refraining from buying new products and also by selling the unwanted materials for recycling.
So, each and every individual can contribute for this good cause, by taking efforts to curb land
pollution. You may also reduce the use of non-biodegradable materials. For example, you may
carry paper or cloth bags with you, so as to avoid taking a plastic carry bag from the shop. If you
can, switch over to biodegradable materials. Use glass or metal products instead of plastic ones.
As land pollution is a problem that is detrimental to mankind as well as to nature as a whole,
efforts to curb it must be taken by each and every individual. Authorities must take efforts to
spread awareness about the causes and effects of land pollution. Even the industries must strictly
follow the norms for waste product disposal. So, encourage recycling and reuse of non-
biodegradable materials, avoid the use of harmful chemical pesticides as well as fertilizers and
refrain from dumping toxic wastes on land. All these measures can contribute greatly for
controlling land pollution.
Even a layman with a basic understanding about land pollution facts will be able to come up with
solutions for the same. Such solutions can be derived from the causes themselves. The following
are some of the solutions for land pollution. As the most common cause for land pollution is
waste disposal, most of the control measures are associated with that. Proper waste disposal is
one of the golden rules for curbing land pollution. This is much more important in case of
disposal of toxic waste products. Industries must follow the laws with regard to waste disposal.
One of the major land pollution solutions is recycling. Apart from reducing the amount of waste
products in the landfills, it also helps in curbing the dumping of non-biodegradable waste on the
Earth. Recycling is also beneficial in lowering other forms of pollution, cost savings and savings
of energy resources. You must also try to reuse materials, if possible. Reusing is always
beneficial than buying new ones. For example, you may use plastic and cardboard containers for
further use. Otherwise store them and sell them for recycling. You may also make some money
by refraining from buying new products and also by selling the unwanted materials for recycling.
So, each and every individual can contribute for this good cause, by taking efforts to curb land
pollution. You may also reduce the use of non-biodegradable materials. For example, you may
carry paper or cloth bags with you, so as to avoid taking a plastic carry bag from the shop. If you
can, switch over to biodegradable materials. Use glass or metal products instead of plastic ones.
As land pollution is a problem that is detrimental to mankind as well as to nature as a whole,
efforts to curb it must be taken by each and every individual. Authorities must take efforts to
spread awareness about the causes and effects of land pollution. Even the industries must strictly
follow the norms for waste product disposal. So, encourage recycling and reuse of non-
biodegradable materials, avoid the use of harmful chemical pesticides as well as fertilizers and
refrain from dumping toxic wastes on land. All these measures can contribute greatly for
controlling land pollution.