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Ashwin C Shroff
During the past 50 years or so, synthetic pesticides have made noteworthy contribution the world over in the development of agriculture, forestry, and public health. In India too, pesticides have contributed in no small measure towards our development strategy, more particularly so in agriculture during the phase of Green Revolution. On one hand as chemical fertilisers supplemented the nutrients to enhance soil producitivity and crop yields, and on the other, synthetic pesticides helped protect the crops from damage and losses in the fields and warehouses as well. Equally significant has been their contribution in the sphere of public health and hygiene, in combating problems like malaria, and providing immunity against various infectious diseases, and thereby improving the general health standards.
While the success with conventional synthetic pesticides has been phenomenal in many ways, the consequences of their increasing use gradually have reached a stage to cause concern and anxiety on account of theshortcomings and associated hazards that are coming to light. The need to manage these issues necessitate a persistent quest to design and develop a safer range of pesticides, and evolve new and novel strategies to control insect pests and minimise crop damages - both quantitatively and qualitatively - while protecting environment, soil health and productivity, optimising water and nutrient uptake, etc.
In the process the pesticides science has been undergoing a paradigm shift. It is evolving out of a clearer understanding of the underlying trends from the environment as also consumers' angle, which in turn dictate the choice of products and technologies - in processing, formulation and application. The emphasis is shifting from pest control to plant protection, getting more from less, and looking at crop production holistically rather than pest control in isolation. The shift has been from synthetic chemicals to naturally occurring or similar to natural products. This results in a rearrangement of relateddisciplines, namely, chemical technology is undergoing a reorientation towards bio-technology, where bio-technology would supplement the chemical technology. The emphasis has been clearly shifting to chemistry being studied to understand biological and biochemical pathways and achieving economically viable and environmentally safe methods of mitigating pests and diseases which ravage plant and animal life to the detriment of human welfare. In this paradigm shift too, due credit should be given to the cadre of Indian scientists from different disciplines for their concerted and harmonised efforts to integrate the knowledge, that have been helping us reasonably well in keeping pace with the developments occurring globally.
In the context of evolving scenario, we can ill-afford to be complacent, as much still remains to be done to catch up in terms of upgrading our wherewithal as well as the generation and management of relevant knowledge. For, the task ahead of us is stupendous in the sense that by the year2040 India will have to manage to feed a population that is projected to reach 1.5 billion. Self-sufficiency in meeting such order of demand will require us to raise our foodgrains production from the current level of around 200 million tonnes to 350 million tonnes in another 40 years. The ultimate objective of the future strategy will have to be to integrate the agricultural practices in both production and protection, ie, to proceed from `integrated nutrition management' to `integrated pest management' and finally spread the concept of integrated crop management through an appropriate systems approach.
The size of the global pesticides market in 1995 was estimated at $35 billion, in which the generics market size was around $17.5 billion or 53 per cent; and by the year 200 this is expected to grow to $27 billion or 70 per cent of the total, marking a 54-per cent expansion in five years, growing at an annual rate of nine per cent.
The top 20 agrochemical companies in the world control 85 per cent of theglobal sales, and the top 10 command a 72-per cent market share. This implies the predominance of the big players who can allocate large budgets and the best possible technical manpower and infrastructure for the intense research and development inputs that the industry demands.
These global players recognise India not only as high growth potential market for their products but also as an attractive destination for investment and collaboration, and as an ideal outsourcing base for the products and formulations as well as scouting for the scientific talents of high caliber, with the intention to reach out and capture a larger share of the world markets. Given such global aspirations, it is for the Indian pesticides industry to cautiously carve out a niche for itself by participating both in domestic and foreign markets and at the same time taking care of our own needs and our own environment as well.
The average per hectare pesticides consumption for India is very low, but such an average would be in acertain sense misleading for a very large country like ours where the consumption varies widely as between regions, crop to crop and also by size of farm-holding.
The future strategy for raising the average consumption to desirable and sustainable levels will require us to address the key factors which are primarily responsible for the relatively low levels, such as increase and spread of the irrigation coverage which today accounts for 36 per cent of the gross cropped area. Besides, the awareness levels will have to be improved, particularly among the small farmers, about the benefits of the use and application of pesticides. Of course, in turn, timely availability and affordability of the right kind of pesticides, with adequate bank credit support will also have to be ensured. Whereas the industry itself will have to play a significant promotional role in this, much of the efforts may not be entirely within its purview. To that extent the future prospects would also rest on the government initiatives suchas of providing the necessary infrastructure of storage and transport, credit and its delivery systems, and activating its extension machinery, etc.
As said earlier, the primary task before the government would be to feed and nurse the basic needs of the mounting population. At the same time, its concern would be to ensure continuing food self-sufficiency and security and avert the food imports at all cost. This will have to be achieved on one hand through both intensive and extensive cultivation, by improving the productivity of the arable land already under cultivation and also enlarging the cropped area by arresting the degradation of lands and wherever possible rejuvenating the wastelands. The irrigation cover will also have to be extended on larger areas, and the application of other external inputs will have to be judiciously managed. Among these, pesticides will have a key role for mitigating the crop losses in the pre- as well as post- harvest stages.
Taking a longer term view, going beyond foodself-sufficiency, surpluses may have to be generated in due course with a view to supporting the opportunities for value addition through agro-processing and agri-business ventures so as to meet the emerging consumer demands, both from the domestic as well as the overseas markets. But here, besides satisfying the changing consumer tastes and preferences, their growing concern about safer products in terms of toxic residues will call for extra-ordinary care.
To be concluded
The author is managing director of Excel Industries Ltd
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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