The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Agriculture Tribune

Spurious pesticides thrive as crops wilt
Amarjit Thind and Manoj Kumar

THE life of hundreds of farmers in Punjab is ruined every year when after spending their meagre resources on pesticides and other inputs they fail to reap the expected crop. The reason: their arhtiyas or dealers supply them spurious chemicals that do not check the growth of weeds or pests.

Agricultural experts admit that this problem is more rampant in the cotton-growing Malwa belt, where the land holdings are bigger as compared to Doaba and Majha.

Denial

According to the records available with the Agriculture Department, hundreds of samples are taken in every district, but these invariably make the grade when referred to the Central Insecticide Laboratory, Faridabad.

In view of this, the Department of Agriculture, Punjab, denies the presence of spurious pesticides in the state. However, industry observers say that lack of adequate awareness among stakeholders, limitations of the present Insecticides Act, 1968, and laxity on the part of enforcement agencies have made it difficult to check the thriving business of spurious farm chemicals.

In Ludhiana, there are no mobile laboratories to test samples on the spot to take action against the errant dealers and sales agents. Although it is mandatory to get a license for running an insecticide shop, the ground realities are different—even commission agents are running flourishing businesses in insecticides and allied products.

On the other hand, Dr Ajmer Singh, Director, Department of Agriculture, Punjab, claims that the department has not received even a single complaint during this sowing season. "The department has launched a 40-day campaign from November 20 to December 31 to check the manufacturing and distribution of spurious pesticides in the state. Special flying squads have been set up at the district and headquarters level to monitor the sale of weedicides and insecticides," he says.

Sources in the Agriculture Department reveal that 297 samples have been taken so far as against a target of 400 this year. However, only 16 samples forwarded to the Insecticide Testing Laboratories at Bathinda and Amritsar failed; even these reports have been challenged by the manufacturers and the dealers concerned. The matter has been referred to the central laboratory for the final word.

Citing an example to illustrate the seriousness of the issue, an official said they took a sample of phorate, an insecticide, which tested zero for the supposed ingredient formulation of 10 per cent. In another case, a sample of monocrotaphos of 36 per cent potency was found to have only 18 per cent of the active ingredient.

Mr M.R. Goyal, president of the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh Pesticide Manufacturers Association, claims that the Agriculture Department is keeping a tab only on the state manufacturers, while a number of dealers are bringing in spurious pesticides from Delhi and Himachal Pradesh and selling these after mixing with genuine stocks.

The spread

Mr S.S. Malik, Regional Manager, Rallis India, says, "The annual market of pesticides in Punjab is worth about Rs 500 crore. Due to drought-like conditions last year, it had declined by about 20 per cent, but this year it is likely to increase by about 15 per cent. Our estimates are that about 20 per cent of that market, worth Rs 100 crore, is controlled by spurious, fake and sub-standard pesticides."

There are a number of fakes that look like established brands such as Leader, Puma, Rallis or Segenta, especially in the far-flung districts like Gurdaspur, Ferozepore, Bathinda and Muktsar, he adds.

According to a recent report of CropLife India, a major player in the market, "The farming community and the agro-chemical industry are being adversely impacted by the illegal import of low-quality herbicides and pesticides from unapproved sources. The latest target for these unscrupulous importers of low-quality, ineffective herbicides is metribuzin — a popular wheat and potato herbicide."

Cheap imports

The report claims that since illegal metribuzin imports are priced about 25 per cent lower than the authorised metribuzin, it has already succeeded in cornering nearly 20 per cent of the market. To the farmers who fall for the low price, the negative impact becomes visible only at the time of harvesting.

Officials cite intense competition and the ever-growing price war between the companies, which in most cases are either MNCs or big Indian firms. The genesis of the problem lies in the huge profit margins of the companies that have everything to gain by selling "doctored" products to unsuspecting farmers. While a marginal decrease in the potency of the formulations may not affect the farmers, it means big bucks for the companies. Indian companies too try to elbow their way in by launching the same products as MNCs, but with a smaller price tag. Often, the first casualty is quality.

Weak law

Is there a way out? Mr Malik of Rallis laments that the Agriculture Department officials have no stake in checking the supply of spurious pesticides. Also, it is very difficult to book the guilty under the present laws. The government should allow certified private laboratories to test samples, he demands.

Officials too cite the cumbersome procedure in bringing the defaulting companies to book and say that The Insecticide Act, 1968, is a paper tiger. While the licences of the errant dealers are cancelled, they have the option to plead their case with the Joint Director, Agricultural Plant Protection, in Chandigarh.

The suspect companies are also issued show-cause notices and their quality-control heads are asked to explain the deficiencies in their products. However, the companies adopt "delaying tactics" by asking for a re-test from the Central Laboratory and in a majority of the cases, the samples pass. In case this laboratory fails a sample, it is up to the department to initiate court proceedings. Sources say that it is hard to recall an instance where a company or dealer may have been prosecuted for sub-standard or spurious products.

Mr Bhupinder Singh Mann, national president of the Bharti Kisan Union, says the government should amend the Insecticides Act and bring pesticides under the Consumer Rights Act so that farmers can get compensation in the case of financial loss due to sub-standard pesticides supplied by dealers/manufacturers.

Chemicals fail fruit growers in HP
Rakesh Lohumi

THE use of chemical sprays has just started picking up in Himachal Pradesh, but farmers are already facing the problem of spurious pesticides.

Unlike in the neighbouring plains, hill farmers have been making minimal use of chemical sprays and fertilisers. As against the national average of 1.50 kg of pesticides per hectare, hill farmers have been making do with just 300 gm. In the developed countries the figure is as high as 4 or 5 kg.

The reason for the low application is not far to seek. With an average land holding of less than two hectare, agriculture is not a very rewarding proposition in the hills. Another factor is that the temperate agro-climatic conditions in the hill areas are not very conducive to the growth of pests, requiring less chemical sprays, especially for foodgrains.

It is the fruit and vegetable growers who consume the bulk of the 600 odd tonnes of pesticides used in the state annually. The growers were first forced to use chemical sprays when the dreaded apple scab disease devastated orchards in the late 1970s. Since then, many more diseases have surfaced. The latest has been the twin attack of mite and fungus, which has been causing premature defoliation of apple trees.

Every time a disease breaks out, university scientists recommend sprays against it. However, more often than not, farmers find the recommended pesticides ineffective. This is largely because of the substandard quality of the chemicals. Growers often complain that even the subsidised pesticides supplied by the government agencies are spurious. New chemicals are first tested by the farm universities for three years and if found effective, are recommended for use.

However, as soon as a new pesticide is recommended, its spurious or even totally fake versions appear. This is a major problem, admits Dr Amit Nath, head of the Entomology Department of Dr Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture. Unscrupulous companies use inferior inert components to reduce the cost, he says. For instance, there is a tendency to use kerosene oil as the solvent and other inferior ingredients as spreader. This seriously affects the quality of the pesticide even if it has the necessary percentage of the active chemical ingredient. In certain cases, even the active ingredient is missing.

The worse part, Dr Nath says, is that the grower cannot make out the genuineness of a product till he uses it. By then it is too late. With the private market of pesticides growing steadily, there is a need for stringent regulatory measures. He suggests the system introduced in the southern states under which random samples are taken from every consignment of pesticides entering the state. Special barriers have been set up for the purpose at the entry points. It is most important as spurious pesticides can actually cause harm to the plants as the pests become resistant and their population multiplies at a high rate.

Mr J.C. Rana, Director of Agriculture, reveals that about 5 or 10 per cent of pesticide samples taken from the field fail and action is initiated against the suppliers under the Insecticide Act. So far only about 200 samples were being sent to the testing laboratory of the Government of India in Faridabad annually. However, this year Himachal’s own laboratory has become functional. It has the capacity to test 500 samples annually, he says.

Red tape strangles water project in Hamirpur
Chander Shekhar Sharma

Political rivalry and red-tapism in the Department of Agriculture, Himachal Pradesh, have killed an ambitious community-based water-harvesting cum natural resources management project in Hamirpur district.

The executing agencies of the project are likely to surrender Rs 3 crore to NABARAD at the end of the project period for their failure to complete the work as per the agreement with NABARAD, according to sources in the district administration.

Under the NABARAD-aided project, costing Rs 8.29 crore, the main aim was to fight the drought conditions in the district. It was to provide timely water for irrigation and to save 7,246 hectare of land from soil erosion. Growing of fruit plants and fodder on an area of 2,227 hectare in the district was also planned. It was to be executed mainly by local people in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture.

Ms Anuradha Thakur, the then Deputy Commissioner of Hamirpur, had got a survey conducted in which 210 sources were found that had water round the year and were located near agricultural land or habitation. A plan was formulated and submitted to NABARAD for funding. With support from the government, approval was granted by NABARAD and the work started.

Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, former Chief Minister of the state, laid the foundation stone of the project at Gahlian village during 2000-01. At the time, it was said that once completed, the project would bring prosperity to the area by solving the problem of constant drought conditions.

According to sources, the project ran into trouble once the government changed and several officials involved with it were transferred out for various reasons. The new set of officials found faults with the project. This led to the transfer of fiscal powers from the Deputy Director, Agriculture, Hamirpur, to a Palampur-based officer of the Soil Conservation Department. Since this officer could not visit Hamirpur regularly and supervise the project, the programme started facing problems. Today the situation has come to such a pass that the project is nearly wound up.

Sources say that out of the 90 works undertaken as part of the project, half are still in the process of execution and the rest have yet to be started for want of action on the part of the executing agencies.

Officials of the Department of Agriculture refuse to speak on the fate of the project. This correspondent tried to contact the Deputy Director, Agriculture, several times, but he was said to be away on a tour.

However, sources in the department admit that a lack of initiative by the department and differences between the present and the old team of the department in Hamirpur have led to the failure of the project.

Probably only an inquiry by the Central government, which had given the loan of Rs 8 crore for this vital project, would be able to establish the reasons for its death.