Why Brazil remains the world’s biggest consumer of pesticides?

Brazil remains at the top of global pesticide consumption year after year, a pattern confirmed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This position is not incidental: it reflects a dominant agribusiness model based on monoculture for export and the heavy use of chemical inputs, prioritizing profit over the environment and public health.

Experts point out that this dependence creates a vicious cycle: the more pesticides are used, the more resistant pests become, leading agribusiness to demand even stronger and more toxic chemicals. This model concentrates wealth and drives political pressure to expand pesticide approvals and tax exemptions for the industry.

In 2024 alone, Brazil broke its record for pesticide authorizations: more than 600 products were approved, an increase of 19% compared to 2023, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Many of these chemicals are banned in Europe, yet European companies continue to manufacture and export them, and Brazil is their main destination.

The consequences are already in the air we breathe. A recent study by researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) found pesticide residues even in protected areas, far from any farming activity. These chemicals evaporate, travel long distances, and return through rain, meaning no place is truly safe from exposure.

Environmental contamination is not the only concern. Pesticides have also become weapons in rural conflicts promoted by land grabbers and agribusiness actors. According to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), in 2024 more than 17,000 Brazilian families, mostly Indigenous peoples, quilombola communities, agroecology settlers, and small farmers, were victims of attacks involving pesticide spraying, often by drones. Over 3 million hectares were affected.

Despite the severity of the crisis, agribusiness continues to push for tax breaks that incentivize pesticide use, with more than R$21 billion (about US$4 billion) in fiscal exemptions granted only between January and August 2024.

For social movements, this fight is about information, organization, and the defense of a food system that respects life rather than corporate profit. As activists emphasize: breaking this cycle isn’t just possible, it’s urgent.