COVID-19 impact: Farmers fret as 'unfair' pesticide ban looms

After the COVID19 lockdown and the virus that attacked tomato crops farmers are in for more hardships as from June 1 27 pesticides will vanish from the shelves as a government ban takes effectFarmers claim that the Centre did not take them into confidence as the alternatives provided are very expensive and not easily available Farmers fear that the ban will encourage black marketing which would make the prices go up and adversely impact the produce in the coming seasonsBan unfairRohit Rajendra Chavan 26 runs a 150acre farm with his father in Indapur Pune They grow grapes sugarcane watermelon vegetables etc The decision has been taken without any thought Cheap and effective pesticide alternatives will almost certainly come to an end Farmers will have to buy expensive fungicides from foreign companies This decision will cause farmers huge losses Chavan said Many of the banned pesticides have been used for many years Fungicides like Captan Mancozeb and pesticides like Dimethoate Deltamethrin etc are used for many crops They are versatile in controlling various pests and are relatively affordableAnkush Chormule farmer from Ashta in SangliEven today farmers are reaping the benefits of some of these pesticides used on their produce There need to be effective alternatives otherwise farmers will have a hard time preserving their crops said Chavan who has studied MSc HorticultureAnkush Chormule a sugarcane farmer with a PhD in Agriculture Entomology study of insects pests and their management affecting crops from Ashta village Sangli said Out of the 27 banned products 12 are insecticides eight are fungicides and seven are weedicides which are commonly used for agricultural crops These are affordable lowcost moleculesFor example sugarcane crop usually get infected by an insect called white grub A pesticide called Chlorpyriphos costing R600 per litre is used However with it being banned the alternative provided by the government costs R1500 for 140 grams Farmers not only will have to pay extra but also have to buy more as the one litre bottle of Chlorpyriphos could be used more than onceSimilarly the banned weedicide would cost farmers R400 per acre It used to be sprayed during the planting of the crop in June The governments alternative will cost R1200R1500 per acreHe further added The government says that the pesticides have been banned as the PHI Pre Harvest Interval level is not mentioned The moot question is when all pesticides have to be approved by a registration committee of the Central Insecticide Board in Delhi how did these pesticide companies get approvals when they were not maintaining permitted PHI levelsIt is unfair to abruptly ban pesticides without giving lowcost or sameprice alternatives and expecting farmers to continue facing all eventualities including natural and unnatural events which only increase the cost of cultivation and compels farmers to take loans Chormule addedThe ban will affect oranges from Nagpur as five of the seven recommended pesticides for oranges have been banned With only two options left the pesticide suppliers will end up escalating the pricesWhat officials sayA senior bureaucrat from the Union Ministry of Agriculture said that most of the banned chemicals have been found to cause serious soil water and air pollution and were found to be hazardous to animals and humansThis is not the first time that pesticideschemicals have been banned It has happened before too But the fact remains that India does not manufacture pesticides They are imported and repacked before marketing here They have already been banned in some countries said the officerThe Department of Agriculture and Cooperation had constituted an Expert Committee on July 8 2013 to examine the continued use of certain insecticides and the mandate of the Committee on August 19 2013 was further expanded to review 66 insecticides which are banned or restricted or withdrawn in other countries but continue to be registered for domestic use in IndiaWhy the banThe governments directive gives the following reasons for banning some of the pesticidesDimethoate is an organophosphorus compound and is highly toxic It is registered for many fruits and vegetables which are eaten raw The Dr Anupam Varma Committee recommended not usin them Dimethoate breaks down to omniomethoate which is more toxic than dimethoate It is banned in 31 countriesDeltamethrin is toxic to honey bees and can be permitted for use only against desert locustsCaptan was banned as relevant data related to cherry cabbage cauliflower brinjal beans paddy and tobacco crop was not submitted It is banned in Cambodia Fiji Guinea Oman Saudi Arabia and Vietnam The product is toxic to aquatic organismsMancozeb was banned due to incomplete data on thyroid profile on industrial worker and lack of relevant data in relation to wheat maize paddy jowar tapioca ground nut cauliflower grapes guava banana cumin crops chilies and onion It also harms aquatic life12No of insecticides banned8No of fungicides banned7No of weedicides that have been bannedCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news