Page 136 - CW E-Magazine (19-3-2024)

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DIVERGENT VIEWS
Spurious pesticides problem worse than claimed

by industry: Farmer lobby group

The Rashtriya Kisan Progressive damage of 9-lakh acres of chili crops Section 21 of the Insecticide Act,
Association (RKPA), a pan-India asso- in South India in 2021, he said, “The 1968 confers specifi c powers upon
ciation that works for the welfare and damage was mainly due to usage of Insecticide Inspectors, and Rule 27 of the
progress of farmers across the country, sub-standard pesticides in sub-lethal Insecticide Rules, 1971 delineates
has accused a certain association and dose. The ultimate sufferers were farmers their duties. Rule 27(1) stipulates that
vested interests of working against the and consumers. Strict action is a the Insecticide Inspector will conduct
interest of farmers and condemned it must against such culprits, but unfortu- inspections of all establishments selling
for presenting misleading facts. nately, vested interests are strengthening insecticides within their jurisdiction,
such elements by presenting a mislead- with a mandate to visit each licensee
Addressing a press conference in ing picture.” for inspection at least thrice and to draw
New Delhi, Mr. Binod Anand, National samples for analysis.
President, RKPA, took strong excep- Citing another example, Mr. Anand
tion to a certain association pegging highlighted that the Karnataka Gov- “Contrary to this, there have been
the level of sub-standard and spurious ernment had drawn 250 samples of signifi cant discrepancies observed in
pesticides at just 2% of the overall pesti- bio-pesticides and after analysing them the sampling procedures by the insecti-
cides market of the country. in their labs, found all of the, laced with cide Inspectors, which is evident from
chemical pesticides. “Few of these so- the data obtained through RTI from
“India’s agricultural productivity called bio-pesticides/bio-stimulants the states of Rajasthan and Telangana.
has increased by more than six times were the cocktails of 10-12 chemical As per RTI data for the last fi ve years,
since 1950, a remarkable achievement pesticides and some are not even regis- in Telangana State, approximately 50%
indeed. But unfortunately, per acre tered in India, which also indicates the of sampling (9,430) is only from eight
yield is way below in comparison to possibility of smuggling of such chemi- companies, out of a total 240 compa-
many developed and developing cals from foreign countries,” he said. nies. The balance sampling (9,850) is
nations. Despite having 30% more arable from 232 companies, and from 48 com-
land and 67% more rainfall than China, Inadequate and improper sampling panies just one sample on average has
India’s agriculture GDP is about one- Mr. Pawan Payal, National General been drawn during the last fi ve years.
third of China. One major contributor Secretary, RKPA, highlighted discrep- A similar situation exists in Rajasthan,
to lower yields is the widespread use of ancies in sampling from pesticide dealers/ where 83.51% of samples are drawn
low-quality inputs including agrochemi- retailers as one of the root causes of from “A” & “B” Graded companies,
cals. Yet, some vested interest dares to the fl ourishing market for sub-standard neglecting those with sub-standard
put the level of sub-standard products pesticides in the country. products,” he said.
at 2% of the overall Indian market. This
is nothing but misleading and cheating DIVERSIFICATION
of farmers,” said Mr. Anand. Meghmani Organics inaugurates

“The counterfeit pesticides market nano urea plant
is a parallel industry as evident from
various FIRs which have been regis-
tered against the culprits by reputed Meghmani Crop. Nutrition production is expected to be
companies. It is adversely impacting (MCNL), a wholly-owned subsi- announced separately in due
farmers’ livelihoods, yield, crop quality, diary of Meghmani Organics course.
income, and the Indian economy on a Ltd. (MOL), inaugurated its
broader aspect,” he added. nano urea plant at Sanand, MOL is engaged in manu-
Ahmedabad, on March 6, 2024. facturing and selling of pig-
Citing the example of the huge The commencement of commercial ments and agrochemicals.

136 Chemical Weekly March 19, 2024

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