Conclusion
Our findings highlight the excessive use of pesticides on vegetables, and the reliance on pesticides as the only pest management strategy. Many smallholders reported that they increased their use of pesticides over the past years. This is true especially for farmers in West Bengal, where the average application quantity of pesticide was very high and intervals between spraying were very short. The study revealed the widespread use of highly toxic pesticides (16.4% of all pesticides applied) and unsafe practices of farmers, including mixing pesticide cocktails with bare hands and harvesting shortly after spraying. Seventy-four percent of the sample reported experiencing health problems because of pesticide use.