Dhanuka Agritech, an agrochemical company, on Monday said that there are many ghost firms selling spurious pesticides in the domestic market which should be curbed as it impacts all stakeholders, including farmers.
Dhanuka Agritech, which has three manufacturing units one each in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, had a turnover of over ₹1,500 crore in 2021-22.
Fertility affected
Pointing out that the share of illegal pesticides is 10-25 per cent of the total $80 billion global pesticides market Dhanuka Group chairman R G Agarwal said: “The illegal parallel market of agrochemicals is impacting farmers, industry, government, and environment.” He also said that soil fertility gets severely affected due to the use of spurious products.
“There are many ghost companies involved in the illegal practice of selling fake, adulterated, misbranded, and counterfeit agrochemicals. There should be action against them,” he said in a statement. Sales of these products hamper the growth of domestic pesticides manufacturers, he added.
Since it is a state subject to check these fake and misbranded products, Agarwal suggested the Centre to launch a national drive, in coordination with all States and private players. Recently, Agro Chem Federation of India (ACFI) also launched an awareness programme at Nagpur to promote judicious use of quality pesticides.