Users opinion about synthetic, bio- and nano-biopesticides

With a growing global population, the demand for food, clothing and shelter became crucial for sustaining life. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic/endemic, along with the threat of other endemics, posed significant challenges in ensuring the delivery of nutritionally rich food. To address this, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the ban of some highly toxic chemical pesticides. Excessive consumption and exposure to pesticides possibly contributed to a decline in the human immunity levels making our fight against the pandemics more difficult and challenging. During the lockdown COVID-19 crisis, we conducted a survey to gather insights from farm landers (FLs), garden lovers (GLs), domestic front users (DFUs) predominantly from India, but also from other regions worldwide. The survey aimed at better understanding the usage of pesticides, both chemicals (CPs), bio-pesticides (BPs) or both, and their global utilization. A statistical survey with seven rudimentary sections was designed to receive the inputs (elementary inputs, awareness and perception, pesticide utility, health, ecology, and alternatives for safer trials) with fairness and care. The data was statistically analyzed within each group of population, revealing significant variations within the groups. Our study indicated that FLs (44.7 %) predominantly used BPs, GLs (18.8 %) relied on CPs, while DFUs (100.0 %) used a combination of both without any specific intention. Correlation analysis, given by R (correlation coefficient) and p (probability of obtaining an equal or more extreme effect than the found considering the null hypothesis as true) values revealed the existence of a positive and significant relationship between the selected variables, such as level of education (LOE) and gender, with the adoption of new alternatives (2loglikelihood = 64.743, with χ² = 128.4, degrees of freedom (df) = 24, p<*0.05, **0.01, and *** 0.001) through multinomial regression analysis, indicating the fitness of the model. Likewise, our study primarily focused on exploring the insights for the development of nano-biopesticides, as improved alternatives to the existing solutions.