"Illegal Market of Agrochemicals is Impacting Farmer's Growth," RG Agarwal of Dhanuka Group

As India faces crop loss of at least Rs 8 Lakh crore annually due to rampant pests and disease attacks, there is a need to promote the judicious use of genuine pesticides by farmers and curb sales of counterfeit products in the market, said Dhanuka Group Chairman R G Agarwal. 

He said the productivity of various crops can be enhanced significantly by reducing production loss from pests and diseases. Agarwal said the rampant sale of counterfeit pesticides in Indian agriculture is one of the major factors for production loss and lower crop yield than the global average.

Citing an international study, the Dhanuka Agritech chairman pointed out that the share of illegal pesticides is estimated at 10-25 percent of the total USD 80 billion global pesticides market. He blamed the sales of fake, counterfeit, duplicate, and misbranded products to be the cause for hampering the growth of the domestic agrochemicals industry.

"This illegal parallel market of agrichemicals is impacting farmers, industry, government, and environment," he said adding that soil fertility gets severely affected by counterfeit pesticides.

Agarwal called for stringent action against culprits to protect the interest of all stakeholders. He suggested that the central government should launch a national drive, in coordination with all States and Union Territories, to crack down on illicit trade. Parallelly, a national campaign should be run to create awareness among farmers about the ill effects of the use of counterfeit products.

The industry will be more than willing to join in these national campaigns to cleanse this menace, he assured. "There are many ghost companies involved in the illegal practice of selling fake, adulterated, misbranded, and counterfeit agrochemicals. There should be action against them," Agarwal said.

He advised farmers to take proper bills when they purchase pesticides. On its part, Agarwal said the company has launched 'Jago Kisan Jago, an initiative to educate farmers about the perils of counterfeit products and ways to overcome them.

Amid the rising population, the Chairman noted that farm production needs to be increased to ensure the country's food security. Farmers should get good quality inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides at reasonable rates to improve the productivity and production of crops.

Agarwal also stressed that Indian agriculture needs to adopt the latest technologies that can aid in reducing input costs and improving output. He highlighted that drones are being used in the agriculture field for various activities including spraying pesticides, but felt that it should be promoted in a big way through a public-private partnership.