A FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) ‘Study on Sub-standard, Spurious/Counterfeit Pesticides in India’ was released here recently. The study assesses the extent of the problem and suggests ways to counter the menace. According to the study, incidence of spurious/counterfeit pesticides is to the extent of 25% by value and 30% by volume in the country while, the problem is growing at 20% per year and if not addressed will reach level of 40% by value by 2019.
It also reveals that UP, MP, AP, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Karnataka are some of the worst affected states and the impact of non-genuine/illegal pesticides can be seen on overall yield for farmers across the country - in case of 25% non-genuine / illegal products, it can reduce by 4%. This implies 10.6 million tonne of food production loss in the current year.
Further the study reveals irreversible damage to environment by use of unmonitored toxic ingredients in non-genuine illegal products due to degradation of soil through unknown illegal chemicals, thereby rendering it useless for cultivation of succeeding crops; ground and surface water contamination caused by unknown toxic chemicals and heavy metals and imbalance of natural flora and fauna and negative health impacts on humans and animals.
India's position as one of the leading food grain exporter in the world is fully at stake as the possibility of rumours or sabotage by other countries or rejection of Indian export food items from developed importing countries would increase. In such a scenario, export of 29 million tonne of food grains worth Rs 1,578 billion (US$26 billion) is at stake, according to the report.
The report sums up that apart from food grains, export of ~ 3 million tonne of fruits and vegetables worth Rs 88 billion (US$ 1.43 billion) is also at stake due to non-genuine / illegal pesticides.
