Agrochemical

Industry &
Sustainable
Viewpoints
Development

M.
Raghave
nder
Acknowledgements

Dr. Gerry Stephenson

University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Dr. Matthieu Vanhaecke

Nufarm

Mr. Dennis Avery

“Saving the planet with pesticides and plastics
 TO DOUBLE WORLD FOOD
PRODUCTION BY 2050
We need advances and better application of both,

INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT

&
CROP GENETICS
 Industry’s Purpose

To provide Crop Protection Solutions &

thereby ensure food & fibre security.

Sustainable ?

IT MUST !

But how ???

Regulations to ensure
Industry’s sustainability
“Regulations” represent our perpetual
effort to replace more environmentally
damaging products with more benign
alternatives.
Global Harmonization of regulations a
real challenge, but efforts are on in full
force.
Sustainability depends on….
1 The profitability of the manufacturers

2 The productivity & profitability of the

growers & health impact on applicators

3
The health of the consumers

4 The environmental impact on society

In all cases the Benefits must

out-weigh all associated Risks
 Benefits must
outweigh risks

Manufacturers' point of view

 Data Protection
Ends
Revenue

Patent Expiry

8 10 Time
20 23 (Yrs.)

Grant of Registration

Data Generation
& Submission
 T Y P IC A L C U M U L A T IV E D IS C O U N T E D
CASH FLOW FOR A SUCCESSFUL
NEW PRODUCT
100
80
60
40
20 F ir s t S a le s P a te n t E x p ir y
6
$10 0
-2 0
-4 0
D ir e c tio n o f
-6 0
c u rre n t p re s s u re s
-8 0
-1 0 0
0 10 15 20 25

Y e a rs
 Benefits must
outweigh risks

Manufacturers' point of view

Growers' point of view

Growers Plight – Indian Scenario
Cost-Risk-Return structure getting adverse
Growing indebtedness ~ 55% farm house-
holds in Maharashtra are in debt 2005.
Chronic under-nutrition (endemic hunger)
Cost of crop production invariably higher
than the minimum support price
Consequent spate of suicides.
Growers Plight – Indian Scenario
Risk of nature’s fury – earthquakes, droughts,
floods & cyclones, incessant & untimely rains
<10% of farmers covered under crop
insurance.
Poor post harvest infrastructure & consequent
spoilage losses.
Rural credit mechanism does not address the
twin issues of “transaction cost” and “risk”.
Pesticides pose health risk to
growers & applicators
~3million reports of serious poisoning each
year globally

220 thousand accidental deaths

Health problems 13 times higher in developing

countries

Chronic effects?
Health risks with pesticides

Depend on

Pesticide Human
Toxicity Exposure
 Health risks are preventable
Proper pesticide use rarely cause health
problems
Can be prevented by the continued development
of safer pesticides.
Industrialized countries have effective regulatory,
educational and training programmes for
applicators.
These programmes are expensive to maintain
and will be challenge to implement in developing
countries.
Responsibility of the Government
Indian Central & State governments
need to mobilize over 3 million
1
trainers to cover our 100 millions
farms.

May need to rope in World Bank

support to augment the inadequate
2 resources of the Agri-extension Dept.
eg T&V programmes of the 70s to
promote water literacy etc in Chambal
region.

Industry resources cannot do justice

3 to education and training
programmes.
Economic benefits to growers
Crop losses would be at least 10% – 60% if
pesticides are not used.

The economic benefit in Rupee terms is

positive (Rs3-5 return on every Rupee spent
on pesticide?) depending on cost of pesticide
and the ruling commodity prices at harvest.

Low cost Generic pesticides have helped

improve farm economics

Need to develop credible data on the indices

of “Economic benefits” statewise and
cropwise.
 Benefits must
outweigh risks

Manufacturers' point of view

Growers' point of view

Consumers' point of view

Shift in environmental concerns

1960s
Insecticides

Today
Herbicides
Pesticide Residues – a concern

New low dosage herbicides introduced to

lower the risk in general.

Encouragement being given to non-chemical

alternatives wherever economically feasible.

Significant international effort addressing

residue concerns.
Global Efforts - USA

USA – EPA under FIFRA is

reviewing all prior 1984
pesticides to ensure that
Pesticide Food Residues meet
FQPA standards. Globally
Harmonized System
implementation to resolve MRL
differences within NAFTA
members.
 Global Efforts - EU

Efforts on to establish a positive of active substances

(Annex I) that have been shown to be without
unacceptable risk to people or environment.

Procedure involves peer review of Annex

II dossier by European Food Safety
Authority and commented upon by
European Commission Evaluation Group
and Member States. Thereafter a
positive vote by the Standing Committee
on Food Chain and Animal Health to
make it to the Annex I list.
 Benefits must
outweigh risks

Manufacturers' point of view

Growers' point of view

Consumers' point of view

Society's point of view

 Pesticides help save land

Advances in crop protection, breeding and

fertility
World Agricultural production tripled since
1960 on 6 million sq miles of land.
We would need to find new land for
agriculture equivalent to USA, Brazil and EU
combined.
Intensive farming as opposed to extensive
• . farming is the only option
US society’s benefit from Pesticides
Annual pesticide use $6.5billion
Prevents $26billion in crop losses from pests
4:1 returns to growers in dollar terms
Indirect cost of pesticide use $8billion
(regulation, training, health & environmental
losses)
Total benefit $26billion vs total cost 14.5billion
2:1 return to society on every $ spent on
pesticides
Thank You