The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has attributed the high levels of pesticides in food on the markets to agricultural practices farmers use.

According to Joseph Bennie, the Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs at FDA, some farmers do not exercise patience to ensure the chemicals get out of the product.

He bemoaned the practice when he spoke on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, June 15.

“The issue of higher levels of pesticides in fruits and foods that we consume normally comes from agricultural practices.”

“Normally when you use pesticides or insecticides in the course of production, you are supposed to have a certain time frame before you can harvest the products, but most times, people do not do that because they are in a hurry to bring the product to the market.”

Joseph Bennie thus asked farmers to desist from such acts.

"So the time that is required for these chemicals to get out of the produce is not done. So we get these residues in the products eventually.

The discussion today was on food safety.