Indian Chemical News, the most credible online media platform for the Chemicals, Petrochemicals, and Energy sector, is organizing the Second Edition of ‘AgroChem Summit 2023’ (https://www.indianchemicalnews.com/agrochem-summit-2024/) on December 15, 2023 at The Park, Parliament Street, New Delhi.

The theme of the AgroChem Summit 2023 is "Boosting Production Through Sustainable Agriculture Practices".

Speakers for the "Innovative Agrochemicals: Partnering Innovation for Supporting Make in India" session are: Dr. Praveen Kumar Singh, Agriculture Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India; Susanta Kumar Purohit, Joint Secretary - Chemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India; Dr. Mohana Krishna Reddy Mudiam, Director, Institute of Pesticide Formulation Technology; Dr. Brijesh Tripathi, Deputy Director (Chemistry), Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIB&RC) and Central Insecticides Laboratory (CIL); Dr. Kamlesh Pai Fondekar, Head - Research & Development, Godrej Agrovet Ltd.; Anuja Kadian, Government & Industry Affairs Director (Asia Pacific), Corteva Agriscience; Dr. Rajesh Chandra, Senior Principal Scientist, CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad; and Dr. Rupak Paul, Deputy General Manager – Formulation, Rallis India Ltd. The session is moderated by Raju Kapoor, Director - Public & Industry Affairs, FMC India. 

Topics to be covered in the session are: Role of government in creating positive environment for developing innovative products; Nanoformulations, biopesticides, and microbial formulations; slow-release formulations; Adjuvants; Policy framework for IP management & technology; Transfer/commercialization; Registration of new molecules; Joint ownership of IP; Safeguarding IP; Pooling IP resources for public use; Integrated pest management; and model whereby academia, industry, and farmers can join hands.  

Innovative agrochemicals in India are geared towards environmentally friendly practices that seek to balance the crop yield, environmental safety, and sustainability for a sustainable future.

In India, we have 300 grams per acre consumption of agrochemicals as compared to 13 kg in China. The answer to this is not only looking for increasing consumption but increasing quality in a sustainable way for farmers. Industry wants right policies to attract innovations to India. Domestic manufacturers need to invest more in R&D with a focus on innovation and new molecules/ products. Do we need change in formulation and improvement of processes?

Challenges in formulation development should be discussed in the context of product development and how customers experience our products. A product should be robust, flexible to use, efficient and performing, cost competitive, convenient, safe, and without residue concerns.

Partnering for IP creation is needed if industry wants to expedite the development of new formulation as IP rights incentivize entrepreneurs to keep pushing for new advances. IP rights facilitate the free flow of information by sharing the protected know-how critical to the original, patented invention. In turn, this process leads to new innovations and improvements on existing ones.

Industry feels that there is a need for protection of innovation and data. The protection of data and IP are going to become very important and need to be coming through a policy separately. The production incentives too may help the sector to grow in future.

The Summit is supported by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India. Gold partners are: Godrej Agrovet Ltd., SML Ltd; and Somaiya Vidyavihar University. Industry association supporting the AgroChem Summit 2023 are: Agro Chem Federation of India (ACFI); Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI); Crop Life India (CLI), Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India (PMFAI); and Biological Agri Solutions Association of India (BASAI).