The growth in the use of pesticide use over the past 50 years has been an integral part of the technological revolution in agriculture that has helped deliver major increases in productivity across much of the globe. The mechanisation revolution of the 1930s and 1940s has been augmented since 1945 by a chemical revolution in terms of pesticides, but this has come with an environmental cost. Problems associated with pesticide use in developing countries are mostly associated with misuse and can be attributed to a number of causes, including lack of education and training in pesticide use, pesticide subsidies, lack or inadequate information on hazards, difficulty in conducting needed research due to fiscal constraints, problems of communication from state extension organizations, unwillingness of farmers to accept the risks of crop loss, the effect of the tropical climates and inadequate regulation and enforcement. In many developing countries the development and enforcement of pesticide policy and regulations does not have priority, and as a result there can be an absence of a clear over-arching strategy for pesticide management. Issues of connection between agricultural researchers, practitioners and policy makers continues to be an issue despite repeated calls over many years for more evidence based policy.