Nichino India launches novel insecticide Orchestra for control of rice pest

Nichino India launched a novel insecticide Orchestra (benzpyrimoxan) in Hyderabad, India on Wednesday. It will help farmers deal with brown plant hopper (BPH) in rice. BPH is one of the devastating pests that cause huge losses to farmers.

Tomooka Naohiro, Managing Director of Nichino India, said that the product is developed through a joint research at Japan and will be available in both Japan and Indian markets.

It was test marketed in recent rabi season. Farmers observed uniform panicles and better grain filling, implying increase in yields. Majority of the products in the market now have resistance issues and farmers tend to use more sprays for BPH control. The high usage results in the agro ecosystem getting damaged impacting the population of beneficial insects like spiders, lady bird beetles, mirid bugs and others. Orchestra controls the BPH effectively and selectively without hurting the beneficial insects, the company said.

Hemant Singh, National sales manager, said that the company has four plants in India, including on each in Hyderabad, Sanagreddy (both in Telangana), Jammu and Humnabad (Bidar, Karnataka). The new product will be produced from Hyderabad formulation plant and will export to Japan also. He said that the company’s current turnover was Rs. 650 crore and expected to touch Rs. 1000 crore soon. The company has released 71 pesticide brands in the Indian market so far, and occupies 2-3 percent share of India pesticide market. Chilli and rice are focus areas. The company plans to make more products under the Make in India initiative.