AgroPages-Spurious pesticides is major challenge for crop protection in India-Agricultural news

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Tata Strategic Management Group (TSMG) recently released a report on the topic, “Next Generation Indian Agriculture: Role of Crop Protection Solutions,” highlighting the role of crop protection and crop enhancement solutions for sustainable growth of agriculture in India. The report was released by Hukmdev Narayan Yadav, chairman, Standing Committee of Parliament on Agriculture, in an event at FICCI.

According to the report, with a present size of 1.32 billion, India currently supports nearly 17.84% of the world population, with 2.4% land resources and 4% of water resources. It is also noted that about 15-25% potential crop production is lost due to pests, weeds and diseases. Continuously shrinking arable land, slow pace of improvement in farm productivity and loss / wastage of crops both during and post-harvest poses a critical challenge to ensuring food and nutritional security for the nation. To add to the complexity, the agricultural workforce in India is expected to reduce by 50% in the coming decade. A combination of crop protection and crop enhancement solutions will be critical.

Although yield per hectare has doubled in the past years, Indian agriculture is still grappling with challenges like high monsoon dependency, unpredictable weather patterns, reduction in arable land, low per hectare yield, increase in pest attacks and so on. These indeed are challenging times. There are good emerging trends and solutions for sustainable crop protection which include crop protection chemicals, agronomy, fertigation, seed treatment, and biotechnology development. The next generation agriculture in the country will have to encompass all such possible solutions using the best mode in a given scenario. The sector faces many challenges and solution to same can lead to India becoming a global manufacturing hub of quality crop protection chemicals.

India is the fourth-largest global producer of agrochemicals after the US, Japan and China. This segment generated a value of US$4.4 billion in FY15 and is expected to grow at 7.5% per annum to reach US$6.3 billion by FY20. Approximately 50% of the demand comes from domestic consumers and the rest from exports. During the same period, the domestic demand is expected to grow at 6.5% per annum and exports at 9% per annum.

Challenges faced by the Indian Crop Protection Industry

Spurious Products: According to industry estimates, spurious pesticides could account for more than 40% of the pesticides sold in India in FY14. These products are inferior formulations which are unable to kill the pests or kill them efficiently. They also result in byproducts which may significantly harm the soil and environment.

Stringent Regulations: Stringent environmental regulations across the world are increasing the cost of developing new products and simultaneously delaying the introduction of new products in the market. For instance, in the European Union any agrochemical product if found to be mutagenic, carcinogenic or classified as an endocrine disruptor would not achieve registration or re-registration irrespective of the level of exposure generated.

Low Focus on R&D by Domestic Manufacturers: Indian companies spend only 1-2% of their revenues in research and development as against the global MNCs which invest about 8-10% of their revenues. This makes Indian manufacturers uncompetitive globally in specialty molecules.

Lack of Education and Awareness Among Farmers: It is not easy to reach the farmers owing to differences in regional languages and dialects and a general inertia towards adoption of newer products on account of possible risks of crop failure. The main point of contact between the farmers and the manufacturers are the retailers who do not have adequate technical expertise and are thus unable to impart proper product understanding to the farmers.

Need for Efficient Distribution Systems: The industry has been plagued by problems arising out of supply chain inefficiencies and inadequate infrastructure which result in post-harvest losses estimated at Rs 45,000 crore every year. Lack of efficient distribution system also makes it difficult for agrochemical companies to reach out to the farmers and educate them about the benefits.

Supporting Crop Protection Industry

FY15 has been a challenging year for crop protection chemicals market in India as well as throughout the world. Weak rainfall/ droughts, severe decline in the commodity prices, and currency devaluation in several countries have affected the growth of crop protection chemicals market. The impact of these factors is likely to weigh on the sector for few more years. At present, per hectare consumption of pesticides in India is amongst the lowest in the world and stands at 0.6 kg/ha against 5-7 kg/ha in the UK and ~ 13 kg/ha in China. With the increase in awareness and market penetration, consumption is likely to improve in the near future. Still there are challenges like spurious products, low focus on R&D by domestic manufacturers, inefficiencies in the supply chain which need to be addressed on priority.

In addition to the use of crop protection chemicals, Indian agriculture needs to focus on specific solutions to enhance crop productivity. It is imperative for us to adopt efficient agronomy practices, fertigation, seed treatment, biotechnology and plasticulture to reduce wastage and attain self-sufficiency in agricultural output. Integrated pest management is one of the most effective and sustainable ways of tackling the issue of pests and diseases in Indian agriculture.

Given the geographic expanse of India, digital technology-based solutions could be one of the efficient routes to reach the farmers and equip them with information in real-time which will help in arriving to better and timely farming related decisions. Indian agriculture ecosystem is realising this but it will take time for these technologies to be embedded into everyday farming practice.