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NewsletterIssue -1

April 2018

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Bidding farewell to our Chairman

It is always difficult to part ways but we created some Happy Moments!!!

The Board of Directors and eminent industry personalities came under one roof to bid farewell to our ex-Chairman, Mr. Ram Mudholkar.

The event also marked farewell to one of our member company leader, Mr. Bipin Solanki, ex-CEO, Syngenta.

Present on the occasion were Mr. Rajju Shroff, Executive Chairman & Managing Director, UPL Ltd.; Mr. K. K. Unni, Chairman Emeritus; Mr. Sarjiwan Manhas, Chairman; Mr. Partho Lahiri ex-Chairman; Mr. Anil Jain, ex-Chairman; Dr. Suresh Ramachandran, Vice Chairman; Mr. Srinath Bala; Mr. Rajendra Velagala; Mr. Dhiraj Pant; Dr. Ajit Kumar; Mr. Pradeep Dave; Mr. Sajal Biswas and Mr. Brij Uberoi.

Strategizing with Smiles...

CropLife Asia team along with working committee members and CropLife India Secretariat met on 21-22 February, 2018 at Mumbai for strategy planning for the upcoming year.

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Indian economy is surging ahead and agriculture, which is the backbone of our country with 15% contribution to GDP; is all set to evolve. Continuing with the pledge to propel India as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the 2018 Union Budget, highlighted the government's focus on agriculture. Policy issues to safeguard Minimum Support Price (MSP), commodity prices, etc. are being addressed by the government to ensure “doubling farmers’ income by 2022”, our Prime Minister’s motto. In the process, Government also needs to ensure that Policy framework does not impose barriers that impede the healthy growth of the Agribusiness Industry.

CropLife India, working in tandem with Government’s initiatives; is spring boarding its energies in this year, to enable farmers to improve productivity. Our efforts in the area bringing in new technologies, and farmers’ education for safe and judicious use of chemicals will be enhanced significantly. Outreach efforts will be made in a manner to provide an enabling environment to the farmer for increasing productivity of the crops and growth of Agriculture.

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Mr. Sarjiwan ManhasChairman - CropLife India

Dr. P K ChakrabartyADG (PP & Biosafety)

ICAR

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Mr. Brij Uberoi

CEO - CropLife India

2018 has commenced with a resolve from the present Government that farmer deserves a much better compensation structure than the past. The Ministry of Agriculture is being pushed to look at more remunerative prices so that it provides an impetus to the agrarian economy and elevates India’s position. This not only reinforces the intent of Government for working towards “Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022” but entrusts all the Stakeholders to work towards the common goal.

We would continue to engage with the Policy Holders and various Stakeholders, in a manner that we work cohesively in enhancing farmers’ productivity. CropLife India’s outreach efforts in this year, will target the rural communities at a scale never seen before and drive awareness across multiple channels and projects. Our objective is to educate the farmers, so that it helps in mitigating the risk of unsafe handling of Crop Protections products and empower them and their families towards achieving safety and security.

Mr. Kishore Jaiswal SWARD

Farmer's Association

As a farmer body we would like to acknowledge the government’s concern to include the stakeholder’s opinion on the Draft Pesticides Management Bill in 2017. We feel that the provisions of the Bill should include mechanisms to enable various stakeholders like Government officials including custom officials, import points, agriculture officers to inspectors, dealers, retailers, suppliers and farmers; to identify between spurious, counterfeit, fake and genuine pesticides. A robust mechanism would ensure spurious products do not reach the farmer’s fields, thus ensuring reduction of crop loss and increase of agriculture productivity.

I acknowledge the Innovative & sound endeavor being planned and implemented in this direction by CropLife India, particularly amongst farming fraternity, which is praise worthy and it is my privilege to be associated with their mission.

Government of India’s initiatives to “Double Farmers’ Income by 2022” can be implemented and realized not only by the inter-ministerial collaboration but needs active participation and hand-holding by various Stakeholders in public and private sectors. All stake holders need to work in perfect unison and harmony to achieve this common justified goal. ICAR with its 102 functional Institutes together with 75 State Agricultural Universities PAN India, is working on aspects like production gaps, contingency plans for climate resilient agriculture, educating farmers and creating rural entrepreneurship, preparing farmer-centric modules for different agro-ecologies, value addition and market linkage, policy intervention and implementation plan, in consultation with all stakeholders. Effective pest management using bio- intensive IPM with judicious use of agrochemicals holds a key in realizing a sizeable share of Government’s cardinal goal towards doubling farmers’ income.

The Draft Pesticide Management Bill 2017 proposed by Government has sought recommendations from all stakeholders and is another step to enhance the farm’s productivity.

Nearly 675 ICAR-KVK centers throughout India with more than 50% of them having equipped with Plant Protection SMS is a unique strength in the country to disseminate proven technologies to Indian farmers in the remotest stretch of the country. I am sure their potential can be made use of by prospective stakeholders in right perspective for farmers benefit.

The key element encompassing entire activities is outreach and I am pleased that CropLife India has been working in the precise course of farmer outreach and education, which is represented by this News Letter. I wish the entire team success for all their endeavors.

Cover StoryCrop protection: Let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater New Pesticide Management Bill should incentivise introduction of new and safer products by R&D based companies, as against fly-by-night operators.

Recent incidents of pesticide exposure, resulting in the hospitalisation and even deaths of spraying labourers in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, has raised many issues of concern, both to the government and the industry. The primary cause of these incidents, according to the findings of various fact-finding teams, has been the lethal mixing and indiscriminate use of a number of pesticides, both authorised and unauthorised, without adequate precautions.

While there’s no doubting the importance of crop protection chemicals — a recent Indian Council of Agricultural Research study reveals the country’s annual produce losses due to weeds alone at over $ 11 billion – the question still needs to be asked: Do we need so many pesticides in the market, or fewer but safer and more effective ones, for our farmers?

Currently, there are an estimated 270 crop chemicals in India. Further, there would be 150 or so products/brands for each of these molecules registered by various companies. Besides, we have many unregistered and even spurious chemicals sold by unorganised players. It goes without saying that the responsibility for quality and even stewardship of its products – advicing farmers to spray the right dose at the right time and in the right manner to get the best results – should lie with the industry.

But there is also another crucial regulatory aspect that needs highlighting. Most of the agro-chemical products in India, which have significantly helped reduce produce losses from pest and disease attacks, owe their introduction to the R&D based crop sciences industry. These companies have been at the

forefront of innovation, contributing to the first-time introduction of more than 90 per cent of crop protection products in use today. Such products have enabled us to tackle virtual national crop emergencies – whether it is control of phalaris minor weed in wheat, heliothisarmigera bollworm in cotton or brown planthopper insect pest in rice.

The R&D based crop sciences industry has, moreover, been launching new molecules with increased efficacy and reduced application rates over time. The application rates, in the case of insecticides such as organophosphates (malathion, chlorpyrifos, etc) and carbamates (carbaryl, aldicarb, etc.) during the 1960s and 1970s, were as high as 1,000-3,000 grams of active ingredient per hectare. By the eighties, with the advent of cartap and synthetic pyrethroids, the rates came down to 50-500 grams per hectare. From the nineties to the early 2000s, there was further advancement through moderate toxicity chemicals like triazoles and neonicotinoids, having dosages of 25-200 grams per hectare. Since the mid-2000s, the active ingredient application has fallen to well below 100 grams; in some cases of very low toxicity chemicals — such as sulfonylureas and diamides — it is as less as 4 grams per hectare. The pursuit towards greener chemistries continues.

That pursuit needs encouragement in order to make our agriculture both economically viable (through reduced crop losses) and sustainable (by lowering the environmental load). It calls for the creation of a policy environment that incentivises a steady flow of the latest and safer products. This applies even more so in crop protection chemicals where the R&D based companies are mostly multinationals.

But instead of recognising the reality of there being very little indigenous investment in discovery of newer molecules, the whole debate around pesticides has unfortunately taken the usual colour of MNCs-versus-domestic companies. At the end of the day, any innovator, be it an MNC or a domestic firm, needs an environment that promotes and protects innovation.

For any new crop protection molecule to reach the market, it takes more than 11 years of intensive R&D efforts and an average investment of around $ 300 million. The long gestatation period and heavy development cost is precisely why, in many countries, innovators are given an “exclusivity period” for the test data on a new product that they submit in confidence to regulators. Such exclusivity period — during which the regulator would not divulge the test data to any subsequent/“me-t o o ” a p p l i c a n t s f o r t h e s a m e molecule/formulation, or rely on it for granting marketing approval to anybody other than the original applicant/innovators – extends from 6 years in Malaysia to 7 years in Turkey; eight years in Taiwan; 10 years in China, Brazil, Chile, US, Canada and the European Union; 11 years in Australia; and 15 years in South Korea.

The logic behind regulatory data protection is to ensure that the innovator is able to recover his R&D costs, at least partially, and also steward the correct usage of the product by farmers, before grant of registratation approval to “me-too” applicants for the same molecule/formulation. India is currently in the process of finalising a new Pesticide Management Bill. It is necessary that the proposed law incorporates regulatory data protection provisions, with an exclusivity period of not less than 10 years, in line with globally accepted standards. This, apart from encouraging R&D based companies to bring new crop protection products for the benefit of our farmers, will also help curb the menace of spurious pesticides.

The draft Pesticide Management Bill put up for comments by the Union agriculture ministry, unfortunately though, makes no reference to data exclusivity for new crop protection produacts. That may be like throwing the baby (innovator companies) along with the bathwater (of the spurious pesticide menace)!

Pesticide being sprayed on a red chilly harvest on the banks of the Yamuna in New Delhi. (Express Photo: TashiTobgyal)

Credits-Indian Express, https://bit.ly/2I6jFc9

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Meeting of Stakeholders on Pesticide Management Bill

A Meeting of Stakeholders was organized to discuss Pesticide Management Bill, under the Chairmanship of Sh. S.K. Pattanayak, Secretary, thDepartment of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare on 11 January 2018; at

National Academy of Agricultural Sciences NASC Complex, New Delhi.

The meeting was chaired by Sh. Ashok Dalwai, CEO, National Rainfed Area Authority, Ministry of Agricultureand Farmers’ Welfare; to discuss and deliberate on the proposed Draft Pesticide Management Bill. Shri B. S. Phogat, Plant Protection Adviser (PPA) Government of India, welcomed the participants and briefed about the deliberations.The discussions revolved and stressed upon the urgency to address the needs and gaps in the working of Insecticide Act 1968, in lieu of long term interest of the various stakeholders and step towards farmers’ and environment safety by ensuring quality pesticides to reach the market.

The major draft bill points was shared by Shri Ashwani Kumar, Joint Secretary (Plant Protection), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare via a presentation and highlighted on the Government’s opinion for the Draft PMB 2018. He conveyed that the draft Bill will be available on the Ministry of Agriculture’s website soon for opinions. He assured that Government will analyze all the opinions received in the stipulated date to arrive at a suitable Bill.

FICCI’s Conference on World Water Day 2018

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) organized a conference themed Role of Water in “Doubling Farmers

ndIncome”; on 22 March 2018 at New Delhi. The conference was supported by Dhanuka Agritech Ltd., Agro Chem Federation of India, Excel CropCare, Indofil Industries Ltd. and Godrej Agrovet Ltd. The Concept Address was given by Mr. R. G. Agarwal, Chairman, FICCI - Sub Committee on Crop Protection Chemicals and Group Chairman, Dhanuka Agritech Ltd. He shared his vision of conserving and enhancing water reserves of India, which would lead to increase in yield of agriculture and growth of allied businesses. He even stressed on the need of fighting the menace of Spurious Pesticides.

The conference was attended by Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Hon’ble Minister of State for Water Resource, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India; Shri Ashok Dalwai, CEO, Rainfed Authority of India, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India; Prof. (Dr.) R.B. Singh, Padma Bhusan, Chancellor, Central Agricultural University, Imphal; Mr. Vipin Saini, Executive Director, ACFI; Dr. C. D. Mayee, Former Chairman, ASRB among others.

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Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister for Road, Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India; enthralled the audience with his speech. He opined that Cost Effective technology, innovation and vision are the key factors for future growth in the country. He shared that these factors are being used by the Ministry for augmenting the water resources in India, which would enable the farmers to enhance their yield. He shared that opting to fuel like Methanol, which is an agriculture produce, would end the woes of National Capital Region and end non-populist measures of odd-even.

The event saw participation from Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member, Niti Aayog; and progressive farmers. CropLife India Secretariat and representatives from member companies were present on the occasion for knowledge sharing and aided in the discussions.

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Conference on "Draft Pesticide Management Bill 2017"thMonday, 5 March 2018, New Delhi

A Conference on "Draft Pesticide Management Bill (PMB) 2017" was organized by Bharat Krishak Samaj, on

th5 March 2018, in New Delhi. Bharat Krishak Samaj is Delhi based NGO, led by Ajay Vir Jakhar. The objective of the session was to present Government of India’s Viewpoint and Understanding the need of a new bill.The Key-Note Address was delivered by Mr. T. Nand Kumar, Former Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture. He shared that the Bill has been drafted to boost Sustainable Agriculture in the country and enhance transparency. Dr. B. Rajender opined that the Bill aims at providing an enabling environment towards Doubling Farmers' Income by 2022. He shared that the changes in the current draft

thand the previous one was shared with all stakeholders on 11 January 2018 at NASC Complex, New Delhi, which was attended by most of the industry representatives. He shared that Government of India has requested for comments on the document, with the help of a Public Notice and hosting the document on the website. He assured that all the comments will be analyzed and due changes will be notified.

The second session was aimed at understanding Indian Industry’s Viewpoint.

Raju Kapoor emphasized on that farmers’ loss of nearly Rs. 200,000 Cr. worth of produce that is destroyed by pests and plant diseases needs to be minimized. He shared that approx. US $286 Million is invested and approx. 10-15 years are consumed to bring a molecule to the farm, followed by the requisite stewardship efforts by innovators. Highlighting that the food chain in India has much better pesticides res idue prof i le compared to developed countr ies through authentic test data, he opined that the Draft PMB needs to be progressive, futuristic and should encourage innovation. There is need to revisit the draft PMB and define various loose terms, rather than leaving them to interpretation at the State levels. He asked for clear understanding and differentiation of spurious material. His pitch for PRD was supported Salil Singhal and Vipin Saini. JS (PP) left after Raju Kapoor’s presentation.

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(L to R) Mr. T. Nand Kumar, Former Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Dr. B. Rajender, Joint Secretary, Plant Protection, Ministry of Agriculture

(R to L) Salil Singhal, Pesticide Industry Expert; Vijay Sardana, Agriculture Trade Expert, represents UPL; Raju Kapoor, Dow Agro-Sciences India Pvt. Ltd. and Vipin Saini, Agro - Chemicals Federation of India

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Use of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Awareness Campaign Responsible Use of Crop Protection Products

Lack of required awareness and availability Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) amongst smallholder farmers and spray operators has always raised a concern on the risk of unprotected exposure while handling and applying Crop Protection Products (CPPs). CropLife India along with its member companies, under this initiative, will amplify the effort to reach out to farmers and their families to raise awareness on the safe handling and responsible use of CPPs and focusing on the proper use of PPE. The project will be located in three states of India, viz. Punjab, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, over the next three years on a pilot basis. It is proposed to have a direct outreach to over 4.5 lac farmers with an overall awareness for over 10 lac farmers including agriculture labour connected with spraying operations.Objectives:• Create awareness on the importance and creating a demand for

PPE and to build a sustainable model for making PPE available at CPP retail outlets.

• Increase Mass Awareness on “Responsible Use of Crop Protection Products” including importance of understanding and following the label, handling the products safely, Use of the product according to the recommendations resulting in reduced risk from exposure to CPPs.

thThe Project has been rolled out on 11 December 2018 and launch events have been carried out in three states.

Punjab Andhra Pradesh Maharashtra

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Farmers Retailers Govt officialsMedical

Doctors

School

teachersIndustry

Media

Coverage

1 Pune (Maharashtra) 18-Jan-18 80 30 5 2 2 15 11

2 Bhatinda (Punjab) 31-Jan-18 110 130 8 3 2 16 8

3 Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) 2-Feb-18 150 12 4 1 100 11 7

4 Aurangabad (Maharashtra) 12-Mar-18 100 80 4 4 2 12 13

440 252 21 10 106 54 39

DateLocationS. No.

Total number of participants

Stakeholder Participation

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Glimpses of PPE Project Launch Events in Narayangaon, Maharashtra; Bhatinda, Punjab; Guntur, Andhra Pradesh and Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

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Reaching Out to Farmers via Children - Republic Day Celebrations, Children and Safety...

All the three elements came thtogether on 26 January 2018.

While India was celebrating its th69 Republic Day, functions were

held across the small villages and towns of India. Vegetable Grower Association of India (VGAI), implementing NGO along with CropLife India used this platform to disseminate messages about the Safe and Responsible Use of Crop Protection Products. VGAI teams across Pune, Ahmednagar and Sangli districts in Maharashtra demonstrated the use of Use of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Kits. Children were involved in the whole process and they even took a rally across the village, helping disseminate the messages in public at large. The Children carried Placards with Slogans speaking about the benefits of PPE, in Marathi and few of them, wearing the PPE Mini Kit.

Women’s Day Celebrations, Children and Safety...

thAll the three elements came together on 8 March 2018.While India was celebrating Women’s Day, functions were held across the small villages and towns of India. EFFORT, implementing NGO along with CropLife India used this platform to disseminate messages about the Safe and Responsible Use of Crop Protection Products, and that too, to our young women in schools.

EFFORT teams across Jangareddigudem Girls High School, West Godavari; Kapileswarapuram Girls High School, East Godavari and ZilaParishad

Secondary School, Gonegsndla Village, Kurnool districts in Andhra

Pradesh demonstrated the use of PPE Kits. Trainers, while using the posters and flip c h a r t , c o n v e y e d t h e rationale of the Safety Kit and urged children to request their parents to use them, while handling crop protection products.

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Letters to Dealers, across India, on Grow Safe Food Campaign

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Government of India, has re-issued (it was earlier issued in 2014 and 2016) Advisory to all the Licensed Dealers / Retailers of Pesticides to caution them on the consequences of sourcing and selling illegal Crop Protection Products.

Under the Grow Safe Food Campaign, the Advisory speaks in length about the various measures to be undertaken for Safe and Judicious Use of Pesticides and the role of Dealers / Retailers in the education of farmers.

As mandated by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India; the Advisory Letter, both in English and Hindi, will be sent by CropLife India, to the Pesticide Dealers, across India.

The Advisory has now been posted on the website of Central Insecticides Board & Registration Committee (CIB&RC) and can be accessed .here

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Policy Advocacy with Regulators & Enforcement Agencies in Key States and Centre

CropLife India has been involved in direct outreach for Policy Advocacy with key regulators, across the States of India. A meeting was held with Mr.

thB. M. Modi, Director Agriculture, Government of Gujarat on 20 February 2018 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The objective achieved is to increase the momentum of anti-counterfeit actions in the State, support to deal the menace of Bio-products laced with chemicals and to mark the presence of their officers in the CropLife India Campaigns and training.

Another meeting was held with Mr. Mohan Reddy, Deputy Director of thAgriculture, Government of Telangana, on 13 March 2018 at Hyderabad.

Mr. Reddy shared that the department will be willing to support the industry to curb the menace of counterfeits, Pseudo-Bios and even lookalikes; however have requested for more information from CropLife India and its Member Companies.

Based on the recommendations of the Anti-Counterfeit Committee members, Mr. Reddy shared that the Power of Law needs to be reinforced amongst the malefactors and Government will be engage in mass media campaign, both in terms of editorial and advertising, in May ’18.

CBEC – React – ICC BASCAP IPR Workshop: Role of Customs in Protecting India’s Consumers and Economy from Counterfeits 15 January 2018

In association with the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), ICC BASCAP and React organized a one-day workshop for Customs officers and industry partners on the important role of Customs in mitigating the trade in counterfeits and further building cooperation with rights holders and other enforcement agencies. The Workshop brought together key Customs officers, brand owners, industry associations and law firms in India and featured more than 18 national, regional and global experts, who provided a broad range of perspectives on the role of Customs and related challenges.

Custom officials sighted non-alignment with the advancement of technology as a major challenge and urged industry to ensure capacity building and knowledge sharing for curbing counterfeits. Recommendations from the workshop will be submitted to Mr.RohitAnand, Under Secretary, CBEC; for short and long term implementation and dialogues with industry will be initiated on liability for costs for storage and destruction of counterfeit goods.

thA follow up meeting was held on 16 February ‘18 with Mr. S. P. Sahu, Commissioner, CBEC and Mr. Rohit Anand, Under Secretary, CBEC; discussing the recommendations and implementation of FTIR technology for detection of illegal import.

CropLife India, 226-228, Ansal Chamber-II,6, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066.

+91 11 26187356 / 26186296 / 40158418

+91 11 26196681

www.croplifeindia.org

About CropLife India

CropLife India is a 14 Member Association (Indian & MNC) of Research and Development based Crop Protection Companies engaged in introducing newer and safer products for sustaining Indian agriculture.

CropLife and its Member Companies are firmly committed to engage with the farming community, thereby minimizing pre-harvest and post-harvest crop losses due to pest attacks and plant diseases.

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