Sridhar Jayagouda, a young farmer in Alarwada village on the outskirts of Belagavi city in Karnataka, is preparing for the monsoon crop of paddy by clearing beds of capsicum his family recently harvested. Once the plants are uprooted, he pulls out thin films of plastic covering the raised soil beds. That’s about 40,000 feet or […]

  • Plasticulture, the application of synthetic polymer-based technologies in agriculture, has found wide ranging uses, making it an integral part of food production today.

  • Agricultural plastics are single-use or short-lived, and have been found to be a major source of micro and nanoplastics in the soil, which can have a long term impact on our health and environment.

  • Experts suggest that it is time to recognise the chemical and ecotoxicological aspects of agri plastics and developed more sustainable alternatives.