Tamil Nadu has moved ahead to implement the new glyphosate sale and use norms announced by the Centre recently. As per the new norms, the use of glyphosate is restricted, and no person shall use it except the pest control operators (PCOs).
The TN Agriculture Director has instructed all joint directors in the districts to issue stop sale orders to wholesalers and retailers of glyphosate immediately and assess the godown-wise and shop-wise stock details.
“After assessing the stock, the stop sale order shall be released with an instruction to the concerned stating that glyphosate and its derivatives should be sold only to the pest control operators with bill and sale report should be furnished to the respective block assistant director every month without fail,” a note from the Director of Agriculture said.
Ground use application
For almost four decades, glyphosate is being used in the tea plantations for ground use application to control the weeds. The United Planters’ Association of South India (UPASI) had recently said that the plantation sector should be exempted from the new glyphosate use norms as it would add up to the costs of the tea growers.
UPASI had earlier highlighted to the Agriculture Ministry that the PCOs are available mostly in the cities requiring private pest control activities for household purposes or fumigation of exported commodities. It had also highlighted that the existing total number of licensed PCOs in India are in far less in numbers than the actual requirement to serve the tea plantations spread over 5.66 lakh hectares across the country.