SME Times News Bureau | 17 Jul, 2018
Chemicals
and Petrochemical Secretary, Mr. P. Raghavendra Rao, recently
concurred with the industry's view on the need for data
protection provisions in the Insecticides Act to encourage R&D in
crop protection products and combat the menace of spurious
pesticides.
Inaugurating
the 7th National
Agrochemicals Conference 2018, Rao advised the Central
Insecticide Board and Registration Committee (CIB&RC) to engage
in this area expeditiously.
He
said that agrochemicals had a significant role in ushering in the
second green revolution as data showed that 30% of agrochemicals
currently in use in agriculture sector were spurious or of
sub-standard quality.
Expressing
concern at the high wastage or loss of food annually, currently
reckoned at 40% of food production, of which 20% was attributed to
pests, Mr. Rao said that it was imperative for all stakeholders to
put their heads together to come up with workable solutions to
crop losses.
Rao
suggested that efforts should be made to make farmers aware of the
genuineness of plant protection pesticides so that the fake products
could be kept at bay. He also laid stress on food and nutritional
security and emphasised the critical role of micro-irrigation.
He
also released a FICCI- Tata Strategic Management Group Knowledge
Paper titled 'Doubling Farmers' Income: Role of Crop
Protection Chemicals & Solutions'.
Rafael
Del Rio, Managing Director & Territory Head (South Asia),
Syngenta India Ltd., said
that the biggest challenge before India was to keep the farmers in
their villages and stopping their migration to cities.
Based
on the experience worldwide, he called for removal of distribution
distortions, measures to enhance crop productivity, nutritional
efficiency and adoption of modern farming practices.
Rio
said that the period for data protection in the development of
pesticides should be no less than 10 years and underlined the need
for such a regulation in India.