“We must ponder over why the agrochemical consumption is so low in India. Lack of education among farmers in one factor and inability of the government's extension system to reach them fully is another,” says R. G. Agarwal, Chairman, Dhanuka Group.

 

“In 2009 budget, the government admitted that the extension system has collapsed but nothing much has happened since then. It is sheer wastage of taxpayers’ money. So what are the solutions? One could be that the importance of technology and pesticides is communicated to the farmers. But it is not easy for the private sector to reach out to 15 crore farmers in 7 lakh villages without government support. India’s consumption is 300 gm per hectare whereas China’s consumption is 13 kg per hectare. We have just 200 molecules in India as compared to 1,100 available globally. Even countries such as Pakistan and Vietnam have close to 500 molecules," says R. G. Agarwal. 

 

We need to expand the portfolio and make more molecules available. However, these agrochemicals must be genuine and not fake as the farmers are losing their trust due to the illegal industry of fake agrochemicals running in parallel to ours. Recently the Karnataka government took 200 samples of bio-stimulants and found smuggled pesticides from China which is a cause of concern,” added Agarwal.

 

Aggarwal expressed his candid views along with other agrochemical industry leaders at the NextGen Chemicals & Petrochemicals Summit 2021 organized by Indian Chemical News from 7-8 October, 2021. Titled as ‘‘Agrochemicals: Doubling India’s exports/farmers’ income” the panel discussion was moderated by Viswanathan Rajendran, Partner, Kearney India.

 

"Agrochemicals sector is a significant sector and critical to agriculture as it contributes to both crop protection and production. It is only because of the availability of good quality agrochemicals that we are able to achieve 300 million tonnes of foodgrains annually as compared to about 50 million tonnes back in the 60s. Therefore, agrochemicals have contributed immensely to the agricultural output. On the business side, this industry is segmented into fungicides, insecticides, herbicides and plant growth regulators. Among these, herbicides occupy 40 percent of the market, followed by fungicides and insecticides. With export value at Rs. 20,720 crore in 2019-20 as compared to Rs. 9,000 crore imports, it is clear that we are the net exporter in the sector," says Dr. Vishal Choudhary, Deputy Industrial Advisor, DCPC, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.

 

"Now Covid-19 has given us the opportunity to accelerate the growth of this industry. At the ministry, we are developing a common platform for research institutes and industry to cross communicate. Industry can get an overview on what exactly is happening in academia and vice versa. I am sure India will soon become a manufacturing hub and world leader in agrochemicals,” added Choudhary. 

 

"With an ever-growing population to cater to, India’s agrochemical industry is certainly a big pillar of support for agriculture. Despite the fact that every year there is a huge crop loss, only 25% of the agricultural area comes under crop protection. We should, therefore, maximize the use of crop protection chemicals. If you look at the size of the chemical market, it is worth about Rs. 42,000 crore and from this domestic consumption is 20,000 crore and export is around Rs. 22,000 crore. It is expected to grow by 8 percent CAGR by 2025. For the growth of the sector, we need to focus on modernization of farmer related services such as e-commerce. We should also take the benefit of the 'China Plus One' strategy and make India a hub, at the same time providing enough protection to Indian manufacturers," says Dr. Archana Kumari, Deputy Regional Director, Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India. 

 

Given the fact that about 25% of the agrochemical industry in China is getting shut due to regulatory issues, we must leverage this opportunity. In that direction, we need to strengthen R&D considerably. Innovations will play a key role in helping the farmers to enhance shelf life of a few crops. We need to develop good spraying technology, safe pesticides to address environmental and safety concerns. At the same time, there is also a need to speed up environmental clearance and address disruption of supplies,” added Dr. Kumari. 

 

"In India we have a meagre 300 gm of agrochemical usage per hectare while there is 200,000 crore per annum crop loss, out of which 80,000 crore is only the account of weeds. Only a two-thirds of the country gets coverage of crop protection chemicals. That kind of significant opportunity to protect farmers’ income is out in the open to be tapped. But there are challenges such as lower awareness among farmers. Also, there are studies that say 85 percent of farmers’ decisions to apply certain crop protection chemicals are influenced by retailers who too are not well educated on the science behind these chemicals. Third is the large extension network that has delivered but not operating at the best capacity. So, our top priority must be to make farmers aware about the losses they are undergoing and protect themselves. We need to bring in smart technologies and better products that are easily accepted by farmers. We need to support these technologies with proper stewardship and that means using the right product solution. Pesticide application tools must be made easier with the help of digitalization and mechanization. While we must focus on ease of doing farming, we have to equally adopt larger integrated crop protection. That means we must use agrochemicals to protect the crops and not just to simply kill the pests,” says Raju Kapoor, Director of Industry & Public Affairs, FMC India.

 

"There is a shift towards India and I can say that with full confidence that we are among the frontrunners for being the future hub of global agrochemicals manufacturing along with Vietnam. India has got a talent edge and there is no dearth of space and funds. Producing high quality material and reliability in the exports market has become relatively higher now as compared to a few years ago. This is because we have been able to establish ourselves as reliable manufacturers and suppliers despite the pandemic situation. The Indian companies are gearing up towards the next opportunities by investing a lot into their R&D, manufacturing facilities and trying to bring world class technology. Global supply chain is also undergoing a serious change which cuts across various countries and continents to supply to various destinations. Things are changing now and moving from global supply chain to regional supply chain. We are the only country growing at single to double digit growth and shows enormous potential. Coupled with this, if we have good manufacturing facilities, we can provide a good alternative to China. We have quality scientists who can work on newer products,” says N. K. Rajavelu, EVP & Business Head, Coromandel International Limited.

 

“We have once in a lifetime opportunity in India to look at ways of doubling farmer’s income and emerge as an agrochemical hub of the world. In the last few years, our country has emerged as a viable and competitive alternative to China, with a number of our formulation manufacturers succeeding in increasing their exports. Across the agrochemical manufacturing there are many opportunities to be tapped and I believe that there is a huge potential for ‘Make in India’ dream to come true first in this sector,” says Viswanathan Rajendran, Partner, Kearney India.