With India’s population touching 145 crore, the food grains production has reached 350 million tonnes. The potential of food grains production can touch 550 million tonnes with high yielding, climate resilient seed varieties, pesticides and other advanced inputs 

“As India accounts for the world's 18% population, the land is just 2.8% and water resources just 4% globally, therefore, agriculture is now being looked at holistically,” said Dr Praveen Kumar Singh, Agriculture Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India while speaking at the second edition of AgroChem Summit 2024 organized by the Indian Chemical News in New Delhi on December 13, 2024. 

Dr. Singh who was the Chief Guest at the inaugural session of the event emphasized on the need for ‘One Health’ policy. “It is often said that cattle emit methane and that contributes to the pollution but the reality is also that these feed us too. Out of 987 billion cattle globally, 31% of cattle are in India. Government is now looking at it from a different perspective aimed at looking after the welfare of all stakeholders, specially sustainable income generation in climate vulnerable areas. There has been an overall discussion at various global forums including G20 which have concluded that One Health Policy for all is the way forward.” 

Talking about the role of right policies in shaping the industry, Dr. Singh informed, “Until now, it was about rice, wheat, maize, that is the cereal centric development but it has now moved towards millets, horticulture, plantations etc. Earlier the new seed varieties, pesticides, fertilizers, energy, mechanization and a lot of other factors have contributed to the green revolution. Pesticides have played a major role in enhancing the field life of seed varieties but we cannot look at it in silos. The same Seed Act that gets blame as unfavourable has actually contributed to increase in the production of food grains. With the same set of policies and regulations, we have seen the emergence of 500-600 registered seed companies and more that 1,000 smaller players in India. At the same time, there must be room for modifications in the Act from time to time, depending on the need. The suggestions from forums like these have helped in developing and fine tuning various Acts and rules such as Protection of Plant Varieties Act and Biodiversity Act in the past. 

“We are looking at the improvements in the pesticide products and besides that the bioengineering technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9 are emerging as new solutions for improvement in crop varieties. GM-Bt cotton has led to decrease in use of pesticides during initial years. There will be new chemistry to tackle new pests and similarly not just disease but abiotic stress, soil degradation, over exploitation of water need to be addressed as well. With advancements in techniques, there are possibilities that the need for pesticides may reduce and industry may have to find new ways. Therefore, the industry must keep re-inventing itself to stay relevant.” 

On the use of fertilizers in India, Dr. Singh opined: “In 1960, the fertilizer use was 1.93 kg per hectare and now it is 160 kg per hectare. The world average was 30 kg and now it is 188 kg. So we are gradually moving towards world average. At the same time, as a government, we don’t want the farmers to be over-dependent on chemical fertilizers and pesticides only but new nutrient responsive, pest tolerant varieties of crops can also be developed and adopted. One example is Pusa Basmati 1847, the premium high yielding rice variety is much more tolerant to its predecessors. The pesticide consumption has been fluctuating in India. Greener chemistry has also coming and it has been effective in pest control with lower doses. The use of drones for spraying chemicals has also led to an increase in effectiveness.” 

On how the pesticides industry must work towards addressing the upcoming challenges including hunger, Dr. Singh said, “If people in certain sections are still not getting enough nutrition or food that means hunger is still persisting. There are options such as bio-fortification of crops including nano-zinc, nano-copper etc and also using bio-fortified varieties of field as well as horticultural crops. We can explore ways to do it along with pesticides. There are options such as natural farming as well. The government has been focusing on the natural farming policy and Mission Organic Value Chain Development in Northeast India. There is also a growing focus on natural farming in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. More and more consortiums and bio-solutions are emerging.  There is also focus on improving the quality of inputs such as fertilizers to reduce the cost of cultivation.” 

On crop risk management, Dr. Singh said, “Despite the good seed varieties, pesticides and other production technologies, we always have the risk of crop loss and lesser production due to climate change effects. The farmers are still vulnerable and we can’t imagine the issues in the field here sitting in the boardroom and conference halls. The government is addressing risks through schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna." 

On the need for creating awareness about the relevance of pesticides, Dr. Singh said, “The foam seen floating on Yamuna is may not be because of pesticides but the perception is such that the agrochemicals get most of the blame. Hence, there is a need for building awareness around the judicious use of various permitted pesticides and demystify its role. Industry must take the stewardship task and drive home this message to the stakeholders repeatedly to create an impact,” mentioned Dr. Singh. 

Exuding confidence about the bright future of the industry in sustaining production and productivity, Dr. Singh concluded: “We are increasingly moving toward the concept of regenerative agriculture by 2047.  The focus on lesser use of land, labour and chemicals and fair use of agri-inputs including water are being looked at effectively. As a government, we have to keep a balance between all segments of the industry, be it agrochemicals or others. We are happy to work on suggestions forwarded to us by the industry associations.”