CROP PROTECTION & FOOD SECURITY

1. CROP PROTECTION&FOOD SECURITY R. G. Agarwal, Chairman Dhanuka Agritech

2. SOME CATASTROPHES CAUSED BY PESTS • Irish Potato Famine in 1845-47 caused by a plant disease- late blight, caused by a fungus. Between 1846 and 1850, the population of Ireland dropped by25% . In 1995, in the Columbia Basin of USA, a late blight epidemic caused by new aggressive strains affected 65,000ha of potato crop. • The Bengal famine of 1943. an estimated 1.5 to 4 million people died of starvation, malnutrition and disease. • A fungus weakened the rice crop and this was reported to have had an even greater effect on yield (destroyed 50 to 90% of some rice varieties).

3. PESTICIDE USE- HIGHLY REGULATED • Both Pesticides & Pharma are highly regulated industry. Pesticides are specialty chemicals used to control pests (Household & in Crops), just like Pharma products used for human beings. • Developing a new pesticide molecule requires intensive research, costing ~ Rs 1000 crore and a time period of a decade.

4. Source: Industry Reports, Tata Strategic Analysis

5. PEST SCENARIO OF SOME CROPS IN INDIA

6. CROP PROTECTION Fungicides Insecticides Rodenticides Virucides Miticides Herbicides Seed Treatment Nematicides Adjuvants

8. By adopting GAP (including judicious pesticide use, the ‘yield gaps’ can be narrowed, and additional production around Rs 2 lakhcrore per annum can be added.

9. Challenges & Drivers for Agricultural Growth • CHALLENGES • One of the lowest agricultural productivity in the world. • Decreasing arable land. • Degradation of natural resources. • Technology fatigue. • Wide Yield-gaps between & within States. • Fragmented holdings. • Increase in pests due to intensive agriculture. • Very little area under assured crop protection coverage. • Global warming. • More frequent vagaries of nature (droughts, floods, etc.) • Low awareness of Agriculture Technology

10. ROLE OF CHEMICALS Imagine a life without pesticides/chemicals! We enter the bathroom, sanitized with chemicals, kitchen/living rooms/store free of household insects killed with pesticides.

11. The Industry is working to introduce newer and safer molecules and promote their judicious use through multi-facet extension programmes

12. NEWER PESTICIDES REQUIRE LOW DOSES

13. The decrease in consumption is primarily due to introduction of new molecules with required dose of a few gram instead of a kilo /ha.

14. OUR RECENT INITIATIVE

15. OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH OF AGROCHEMICALS INDUSTRY • Present pesticides use is very little and limited to a few states & crops-More scope for expansion. • Farmer’s affordability for crop protection due to lucrative farm prices. • Farmers willingness to protect their crops from pests, due to increasing loss and favourable cost: benefit ratio of pesticides use. • Higher scope for herbicides usage due to non availability of farm labour when required, and likely saving in expenditure. • Higher the production cost–Higher the inclination to spend on inputs (pesticides) for minimizing crop losses.

16. Protect Crop to Enhance GDP At present MSP, foodgrains worth Rs. 3 lakhcroreare lost every year due to insect pests, diseases and weeds. Can we afford such a colossal loss year after year? Pesticides have had a key role in improving crop productivity to such an extent that India has quadrupled foodgrain production since 1951.

17. Thank you