Pakistan - Draft regulations of bio-pesticide policy to be submitted before cabinet for approval

Minister for National Food Security and Research, Dr Kausar Abdulla Malik on Wednesday said that draft regulations of bio-pesticides policy had been finalized and would be submitted before the federal cabinet for approval to promote the use of bio-pesticides in the country. 

Addressing a high-level ″dialogue on regulatory harmonization in Pakistan for MRLs and bio-pesticides″, the minister said that the use of bio-pesticides would help mitigate the issues related to aflatoxin and make the local agriculture commodities more resilient to capture the international market.

The event was organized by the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) in collaboration with USID, USDA and CABI to share the outcome of joint collaboration to mitigate the adverse impact of aflatoxin in local agriculture products, besides measures taken to mitigate its negative impact on exports of rice, maize, wheat and fruits. 

The minister said that due to the presence of micro-toxin elements, the exports from the country remained under regulatory pressure and expressed the hope that the promotion of bio-pesticides would help to overcome such challenges besides reducing reliance on costly fertilizers, which consume costly inputs like electricity and gas. 

Kausar Abdullah Malik said that organic agriculture products were high in demand across the world and the adoption of this technology would help to enhance the output of organic agriculture products, besides overcoming the threats related to climate change. 

The minister appreciated the efforts of USAID and other development partners and agencies for the uplift of the agriculture sector in the country. He said that the joint efforts of organizations like USID, USDA, PARC and CABI will play a key role in developing a model of modern agriculture in the country. 

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Tariq Khan Director Department of Plant Protection informed that the process of bio-pesticides regulation was initiated in 20120, adding that a bio-pesticides policy had been finalized and soon it would be approved. 

He informed that the work for the capacity building for the regulatory oversight was also in process, besides special arrangements were made for the development of basic infrastructure for the registration of bio-pesticides to bring it into agriculture practice. 

Besides, the department was also working with the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Ministry of Commerce and other organizations to address the issues of aflatoxin to address the bottlenecks hampering local export consignments. 

Addressing the event, Program Manager USDA Jessica Mudjitaba-Fernandez assured full support for the promotion and development of the agriculture sector in Pakistan. She said that the US Department of Agriculture was collaborating with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to promote organic agriculture and enhance the output of agriculture produces. 

Meanwhile, Project Director CABI Dr Sabyan Faris said that his organization had conducted studies in collaboration with USAID and USDA on aflatoxin and bio-pest control under the supervision of national and international experts and started public public-private partnership in 2018. 

Besides over 45 training sessions were also conducted, benefiting around 1,539 farmers, he said adding that the efforts were still on to mitigate the impact of chemical pesticides and promote and develop the use of bio-pesticides to enhance local output. 

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman PARC Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali lauded the efforts of all the stakeholders for mitigating the negative impact of aflatoxin that would help in promote the exports of the agriculture commodities.

He said that bio-pesticides and seed policy would address the issues and challenges related the agriculture sector and enhance output of local crops like wheat, maize and rice.