Agrochemical companies are getting their legal teams ready if the Centre proceeds with its plan to ban 27 generic pesticides. The industry may face a total loss of about ₹17,000 crore if the ban is implemented.
On May 14, the Union Agriculture Ministry had issued a draft notification to ban the pesticides found harmful for humans and wildlife. In the notification, the Ministry has given time until June 27 to all the stakeholders for submitting their objections and suggestions.
On Tuesday, the President of Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India (PMFAI), Pradip Dave, said at a press conference online that the ban will shrink India’s agrochemical export capability by over 50 per cent and hand over a market worth ₹12,000 crore to Chinese competitors. It will defeat the very purpose of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for
He said that the PMFAI believes the Anupam Varma Committee report, which reviewed the pesticides, is arbitrary and has not taken into the account all the data on hand about pesticides. Therefore, a high-powered government-appointed scientific committee must relook at the Anupam Varma Committee report.
The committee was formed on July 18, 2013, and its original mandate was to examine the continued use of three neo-nicotinoids based pesticides but within a month on August 19, the mandate of the committee was expanded to review 66 generic pesticides that are banned, restricted or withdrawn in some other countries, he said.
The committee completed the review in 2014 without involving the Indian agrochemical industry. The 27 generic pesticide formulations to be banned cost between ₹350-450 per litre while the alternatives imported will cost in the range of ₹1,200-2,000, Dave said.