Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the latent potentialities of agrochemicals in Bangladesh - introduced through development projects. It examines how emic concepts of 'shakti' [life force, strength] and 'bhejal' [impure, adulterated] food to illustrate the unpredictability of agrochemical traces.

Paper long abstract:

High-yielding rice was introduced to coastal Bangladesh in the 1980s via imported seeds, pesticides and synthetic fertilisers with the latent potential of greater yields and prosperity. This paper highlights how these materials - promoted through development aid projects - reshaped the deltaic waterscape through several unpredictable effects on the soil, food and human health. Bangladesh suffers from a long history of weak enforcement of existing regulations, where banned agrochemicals are regularly dumped on its soil - from toxic fertilisers to carcinogenic pesticides such as DDT and Endrin- along with counterfeits of well-known pesticide brands. Harmful pesticide residues contaminate food bought at the market, while heavy metal contaminants in fertilisers has resulted in half of Dhaka's rice containing lead. People are eating market-bought foods from that are essentially toxic. Food contaminated with agrochemicals or other substances is popularly described as bhejal [impure, adulterated] and ultimately unsafe; people who eat bhejal foods become bhejal people suffering from ill-health and health conditions (stroke, cancer, liver/kidney problems). Furthermore, the synthetic fertilisers used to grow the food are perceived to lack shakti [strength, power, life force] and reduce soil fertility. With less shakti in food and ultimately less shakti in humans, making them weak and prone to illness. The paper will build on the local understandings of shakti and bhejal to explore the materiality of agrochemicals and the ways in which they in different forms (as agricultural input, runoff, waste, residues, contaminants) affect both landscapes and bodies.