Upcoming Pesticides bill likely to result in shortage & increased prices for farmers

While farmers continue to protest the three Farm Bills - the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) bill 2020; the country’s agriculture community is in for a bigger shock, which may only be a few months from now.

The proposed Pesticides Management Bill 2020 is likely to have far reaching impact on the agriculture sector and also have a bearing on farmers’ income as the bill will result in acute shortages of pesticides and a sharp increase in the prices of the critical commodity, according to Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI), an industry body that represents agrochemical firms in India.

The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in March 2020 and is likely to come up again for the passage in the next session of parliament. The bill will replace the present Insecticides Act, 1968 that regulates the import, manufacture, sale, transport, distribution and use of insecticides.

Dr Ajit Kumar, chairman (Technical Committee), Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI), said there are certain provisions in the Bill that will lead to shortage of pesticides in the market. Section 23 of the proposed Bill provides for deemed registration of pesticides which are registered under the 1968 Act. However, the Bill states that such registrations will only be valid for a period of two years from the date of coming into effect of the Bill. Further, the Bill does not provide for a time-bound approval process for grant of registrations and licenses. The provisions relating to the grant of certificate of registration do not provide for such transparency and accountability.

“This proposal will not only bring instability to the pesticides industry but also damaging for Indian agriculture as several of the products which are required by the farmers in India may not be available for sale in India because Registration Committee may not have granted registrations within the timeframe,” added Dr Kumar.

The Bill also proposes sale of certain pesticides only through prescription to be provided by a State Government appointed authority. This can impact the availability affordable crop protection cover to farmers as Dr Ajit Kumar points out, “Considering that we have about 60 crores farmers spread across 6.5 Lakh villages in the country, this provision doesn’t seem practical and will hamper availability of pesticides to farmers.”

Given the proliferation of pests in diverse conditions, the use of pesticides is inevitable and essential in ensuring robust farm productivity. In the past, favourable weather conditions have engineered an outbreak of the whitefly in northern India. Recently, a massive swarm of locusts created havoc across many regions in India, destroying all foliage and crops in its path.

Coconut plantations in Karnataka have been hit hard by attacks from the Neotropical whitefly. Maize farmers have also suffered great devastation due to the fall armyworm. Ominously, this pest is migrating to other crops such as sugarcane. In every pest attack, only the timely use of pesticides has helped save the day, protecting farmers’ livelihoods. Prudent to point, the Bill treats pesticide usage as an unsavoury activity at best or a crime, at worst.

The over criminalisation of operational lapses is unparalleled and uncalled for. Section 35 allows the State or Central Government enormous power to ban any pesticide for up to 18 months without scientific basis or explanation. Manufacturers may have to shut down factories if manufacturing is not allowed for a year and a half. Even if this ban is reversed later, the investment is unproductive and manufacturing won’t restart without incurring more investments.

Similarly, Section 30(2) (b) permits revocation of the licence granted for manufacturing, storing and selling pesticides if the licence holder violates licence conditions. Typically, one licence covers several pesticides. An alleged violation may be limited to one pesticide. But the entire licence covering other pesticides will be revoked. This is excessive. If a violation occurs, the revocation must be limited only to the specific pesticide.

The above provisions and many more leaves crops vulnerable to locust attacks, which left a trail of destruction in some parts of India recently, besides other pests such as fall armyworm, bollworm, etc. In fact, the Bill will turn the mission of doubling farmers’ income into a distant dream. Further, the proposed Bill gives unlimited powers for government authorities that are likely to be misused, thereby hampering the regular availability of essential crop protection products for farmers.

“At a time when the economic health is a cause for concern, agriculture, which contributes only 15-16 per cent of GDP, along with the rural sector, could jump-start the economy. Therefore, it is important that the Government works towards creating farm friendly laws,” concluded Dr Kumar.

CCFI believes that PMB 2020 contravenes the idea of #AatmanirbharBharat as it allows imported formulations that may contain unregulated, low-grade or expired technical-grade pesticides from unapproved sources. Also there is no compulsion for the registration of a technical-grade pesticide in India before registering any of its formulations in the country.