Date: 18/01/2023

Relevance: GS-3: Environmental pollution and degradation.

Key Phrases: Bio-pesticides, Insecticides Act, 1968, Farmer producer organizations (FPOs), Insecticides Act 1968, Insecticides Rules 1971, Food Security and Sustainability, Integrated Pest and Weed Management Technologies, Verma Committee’s Recommendation.

Why in News?

• The government has recently decided to allow online sales of insecticides.
• The decision to harness the benefits of digitalization in agriculture would perhaps inspire policymakers’ confidence to bring attention to priorities in agri-policymaking for productivity, food security, and sustainability.

Key Highlights:

• The pesticide market in India is expected to touch ₹316 billion in 2024, growing at 8.1 percent a year between 2019 and 2024.
• Its consumption per hectare is reported at 0.25 kg, and insecticides among fungicides and herbicides account for a maximum market share with 292 registered pesticides.
• The chemical pesticide consumption growth has contracted by 0.6 percent, while bio-pesticide consumption grew by 6.12 percent a year between 2016-17 and 2020-21.
• However, bio-pesticide consumption accounts for 8-11 percent of India’s total pesticide consumption during the reported periods.

Benefits of Online Pesticide Sales:

• Reduction in fake pesticide sales: Producer organizations (FPOs) through online buying can cut transaction costs and share their feedback to improve user experience with the multi-stored brands and compare the price points of available pesticide brands. As a result, spurious or fake pesticide sales will be arrested significantly.
• Strengthening of backward and forward linkages: Agri-tech start-ups and pesticide firms can strengthen their upstream marketplace model by leveraging digital platforms’ direct and indirect network effects.
• Attracting Capital Investments: Investors may be attracted to invest in new pesticide techniques, and agrochemical firms can take the IPO route to attract funds.

Challenges Associated with the Online Sale of Pesticides:

1. Increase consumption of chemical pesticides:
   • Online pesticide sales can impact bio-pesticide consumption as chemical pesticides produce “quick results” for farmers. For instance, there would be a 78 percent loss of fruit output, 54 percent loss of vegetables and 32 percent loss of cereal production.
   • Despite short-term productivity gains, the toxicity due to excessive chemical pesticide usage harms the soil, water, air, flora, and fauna. For example, pesticide residues accumulate in the plant, enter the soil, and contaminate groundwater due to leaching, vaporization, and spray drifts. These particles make the air toxic and enter the food chains, posing a threat to consumers.
2. Regulatory Issues:
   • The Insecticides Act 1968 and Insecticides Rules 1971 regulate the end-to-end supply chain of insecticides (pesticides) to prevent hazards and exposure, including human and animal lives.
   • However, this legislation does not have adequate regulatory provisions to avoid deaths, minimize farm workers’ health hazards, or prevent environmental and food contamination.
   • There is no mechanism for periodic checks on the registered pesticides as per toxicology guidelines.
3. Threat of increase in maximum residue limits:
   • e-marketplace-driven pesticide sales would increase the tolerance of maximum residue limits supported by a cartel of technology and pesticide manufacturing firms in an oligopolistic agrochemicals market.
   • A participatory guarantee system may be ineffective in recognizing contaminated food products without a robust traceability system.

Way Forward:

• Embracing circular initiatives:
  • Agri-policies should consider ESG dimensions embracing circular initiatives in food and biomass.
  • For this, the Pesticide Management Bill 2020 should be implemented to address the existing shortcomings of existing laws concerning pesticide registration, worker and end users’ protection, and immunity to pesticide business and promotion.
• Promotion of non-hazardous formulations of pesticides:
  • As the Bill emphasized banning extremely and highly hazardous, especially Class 1a & 1b chemical pesticides, the government should promote non-hazardous formulations of pesticides.
  • The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare banned 18 pesticides following the Verma Committee’s recommendation in 2018. However, two heavily used Class 1 pesticides, Monocrotophos and Carbofuram, are yet to be banned.
• Examining long-term impacts:
  • The pesticide industry should follow a responsible business protocol by examining the long-term impact of active ingredients of pesticides on the environment.
  • Social and economic dimensions are also key to sustainability. The government can broaden and deepen integrated pest and weed management technologies and practices in line with the national mission of natural farming.
• Augmenting Biopesticides sale:
  • States can augment the sales of bio-pesticide and plant growth regulators for organic farming, extend grants and concessional loans to MSMEs and cooperatives/producer companies, and agri-business incubators for innovative circular initiatives in agri-risk management, and promote evidence-based research on pesticides impact on farming communities and public health, nutrition.

Conclusion:

• ICAR-funded agri-research institutions need to provide an enabling environment for scientists or researchers to invent and register patents of products enabling climate-smart sustainable farming.
• Demonstrating their efficacy in the farmer field is critical for farmer adoption and scaling up the commercialization of such technologies and products.

Source: Hindu BL

Mains Question:

Q. The government has recently decided to allow online sales of insecticides. What impact will online pesticide sales have on the food ecology, farmers, and pesticide manufacturing firms? Examine (250 words).