Move to ban 27 Generic Pesticides will open doors for China: PMFAI

Pesticides industry body PMFAI has opposed the government’s proposal to ban 27 pesticides, saying it will result in business loss of worth Rs 6,000 crore and benefit China, besides affecting farmers’ interest as substitutes are four-times costly.

New Delhi: The decision of banning 27 generic pesticides by government was opposed by the industry stakeholders and they even warned of moving court against the government order.

Manufacturers Association got some support from the government side when on 2nd June the Secretary of Chemical and Fertilizer ministry RK Chaturvedi wrote to the Secretary Agriculture Ministry stating that the decision to ban these pesticides will not be right in the current situation.

Within a month of issuing gazzet notification on decision of banning 27 pesticides, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar reviewed the decision last week and said that government will allow exports of banned pesticides on case to case basis.

The ministry has also extended the timeline of suggestions from stakeholders from 45 to 90 days. But despite some relief by the government, manufacturers demand nothing less than complete roll back of the government decision.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, President of the Pesticides Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) Pradip Dave alleged that the decision was taken under the influence of some NGOs and bureaucrats, who only want to favour some foreign companies over the domestic manufacturers.

Even the relief on export will do no good to the manufacturers, according to Dave.

"The government allowing exports on case to case basis means manufacturer will have to register and get license first only after that he would be able to manufacture and export the product.This makes no sense as the paper work is a time consuming process and why companies need to do all this when they already have the license" said Pradip Dave.

Pesticide body industry- PMFAI has been in the forefront opposing government move. The association even demanded an investigation on Anupam Verma Committee alleging that the committee did not consider all data and evidence available on those pesticides.

Dave said that the banned pesticides constitute total market share of ₹ 6000 out of which 2000 crore is exported and 4000 crore worth of pesticides are domestic consumption.

"India and China are the largest manufacturers of generic molecules globally. We are the 2nd largest manufacturers of generic pesticides, If government bans domestic manufacturers it will not only be opposite to the PM Modi's call of Make in India but will be like handing over the international market to our rival China," he said.

Comparing the cost of generic molecules to the replacements or substitutes, Dave cited that there is a huge difference in the prices which will increase the input cost for farmers.

"Generic pesticides are available in market for ₹350-500 per litre but their substitutes which are yet to come will cost around ₹1500-3000 per litre. Farmers have been using these generic pesticides for more than 3 decades now and they always get good results. The bureaucrats are only trying to make way for readymade imported pesticides to crush the domestic manufacturers. This ultimately will affect our farmers the most," he said.

The PMFAI has demanded the withdrawal of draft notification 'Banning of insecticides Order 2020' which prohibits the manufacture, sale, transport, export-import, distribution and use of 27 pesticides like Acephate, Atrazine, Benfuracarb, Butachlor, Captan, Carbofuran, Chlorpyriphos, 2,4-D, Deltamethrin.