Pesticides- Importance & Challenges – Explained Pointwise

In recent years, the demand for crop protection chemicals, especially of herbicides, in India has increased tremendously. It is said that the market for herbicide is growing at a rate of 10% per annum.

What is a Pesticide?

• Pesticides represent a broad category of chemicals formulated to control, repel, or eliminate pests that can inflict harm on crops, transmit diseases, or impact livestock. Pests in this context encompass a range of entities, including insects, fungi, rodents, and weeds. The multifaceted nature of pesticides plays a crucial role in modern agriculture, safeguarding crops and ensuring global food security.
• Types of pesticides:
  1. Insecticide = Engineered to target and eliminate insects.
  2. Fungicide = Developed to combat fungal infections in plants.
  3. Herbicide = Designed to manage and eliminate unwanted vegetation.
  4. Rodenticide = Formulated to control rodent populations.
• India’s domestic crop protection chemicals market is valued at Rs 24,000cr. Insecticide is the largest segment, followed by herbicide & fungicide.

What is the need & importance of pesticide?

1. Protecting Crops from Damage: Pests, including insects, weeds, and pathogens, can cause extensive damage to crops, leading to reduced yields and lower quality produce. Weeds compete with crops for essential resources like water, nutrients, and sunlight. Insects can consume crops, and fungi and other pathogens can cause diseases that destroy plants. Without pesticides, significant losses of fruit (up to 78%), vegetables (54%), and cereals (32%) would occur due to pest damage.
2. Ensuring Food Security: Pesticides play a vital role in increasing crop yields and preventing post-harvest losses. By protecting crops from a wide range of pests, they help ensure a stable and affordable food supply for the growing population. Without pesticides, crop yields could drop significantly, leading to food shortages and higher prices.
3. Controlling Disease Vectors: Many times weeds harbor pests & pathogens that can cause damage to the standing crops. Herbicides are essential tools for controlling these weeds and preventing them from causing further harm.
4. Labour Shortage: Traditionally, agricultural operations like weed control have been performed manually by the agricultural labourers – either by hand or using simple tools like Khurpi. But manual weeding is time consuming, costly & most importantly, labours are not available when the farmers need it. On the other hand, using modern tools like power weeders significantly reduce the time to remove the weeds but are not very effective against weeds with deep roots or growing within densely planted crops. Hence, a more effective solution to the problem is the use of herbicides.
5. Enhancing Economic Stability: The use of pesticides supports agricultural economies by protecting the investments of farmers and ensuring predictable harvests. This stability helps to maintain food prices and provides a reliable source of income for agricultural communities. Furthermore, by protecting the crops from pests, pesticides helps in reducing the cost of production & increasing the farmer income.

What are the challenges of the pesticide sector?

1. Health Risks and Poisoning: Farm workers and communities face acute and chronic health issues due to exposure, including respiratory problems, neurological disorders, developmental delays in children, cancers, and—tragically—high rates of both accidental and intentional (suicide) poisonings, especially with highly hazardous pesticides.
2. Environmental Pollution: Pesticide residues are commonly found in soil, water, and air, contaminating drinking water, food products, and harming biodiversity such as beneficial insects, fish, and wildlife. Certain regions, like Punjab, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh, report pesticide levels in water and crops that exceed permissible limits, impacting ecosystems and public health.
3. Regulatory and Enforcement Gaps: Although the Insecticides Act governs pesticide use, enforcement is weak. Sales of banned or restricted pesticides are still common due to inadequate oversight, corruption, and regulatory loopholes. Monitoring infrastructure and regular residue testing are limited, especially for small farmers.
4. Farmer Knowledge and Practice: Many small-scale farmers lack training in safe and appropriate pesticide use. There is widespread off-label and excessive application, often guided more by vendor recommendations than scientific advice. Proper use of protective gear and safe storage are frequently absent – which exposes the farmers to the harmful effects of pesticides poisoning. Moreover, farmers in India generally use pesticides when they physically observe & assess the pest population or disease incidence to be significant enough to impact crop yield & quality (i.e. post-emergence) – which is not an effective way to use the pesticides.
5. Increase in Cost of Crop Production: The financial burden of repeated pesticide applications, coupled with the loss of crop yields due to pest resistance and climate change, increases indebtedness and distress among farming communities. Overdependence on chemical solutions is compounded by lack of access to affordable, effective alternatives.
6. Monopoly of MNCs: Unlike seeds & fertilisers, where there are enough Indian public & private sector players, crop protection chemicals industry in India is practically a multinational monopoly. A significant part of India’s herbicide market is controlled by MNCs. For e.g. German Bayer AG has a market share of 15%, China’s state-owned Syngenta has 12% & ADAMA has 10% market share.

What have been the various initiatives taken in the pesticide sector?

1. Integrated Pest Management (IPM): The most significant initiative has been the widespread promotion of IPM. This is a comprehensive, eco-friendly approach that aims to keep pest populations below a level where they cause economic damage, without a heavy reliance on chemical pesticides. Under IPM, the government has established a network of Central Integrated Pest Management Centres (CIPMCs) across the country. These centers are tasked with pest and disease monitoring, producing and releasing bio-control agents, and providing training to farmers and agricultural extension officers.
2. The Insecticides Act, 1968: This is the primary legislation that governs the import, manufacture, sale, and use of pesticides in India. It created the Central Insecticides Board & Registration Committee (CIB&RC), which is responsible for registering pesticides after a thorough evaluation of their efficacy and safety. The CIB&RC also has the power to ban or restrict the use of certain pesticides if they are found to be harmful to human health or the environment. 
3. Pesticide Management Bill, 2020: This proposed legislation is intended to replace the outdated 1968 Act. The bill aims to modernize regulations, promote the use of bio-pesticides, and hold companies accountable for the quality and safety of their products. It also includes provisions for compensating farmers who suffer losses due to spurious or substandard pesticides.
4. Increasing footprint of Indian pesticide manufacturers: In recent years, some of the Indian companies have acquired the rights to active ingredients & brands from big global majors or are introducing innovative formulations. For e.g. Indian pesticide manufacturer, CCPL (Crystal Crop Protection Ltd.) has collaborated with USA & Japan based companies to develop a new paddy herbicide called SIKOSA.
5. Biopesticides and Botanical Alternatives: There is a strong push to promote neem-based pesticides and other botanical alternatives. Research projects are focused on developing and promoting these non-chemical options as effective tools for pest management.
6. “Grow Safe Food” Campaign: This initiative was started to create awareness among farmers and other stakeholders about the importance of judicious pesticide use and the proper methods of application.

What can be the way forward?

1. Expand Integrated Pest Management (IPM): Government and industry should mainstream IPM through extension, training, and demonstration programs, aiming to drastically reduce chemical dependence.
2. Accelerate Adoption of Biopesticides: Simplify the registration process for eco-friendly biopesticides and provide financial incentives to manufacturers and farmers for their production and use.
3. Implement the Pesticide Management Bill, 2020: The swift implementation of this bill is crucial to replace the outdated Insecticides Act, 1968. This new framework will bring more stringent rules for registration, sales, and quality control. 
4. Curb Spurious Pesticides: Enforce strict penalties and strengthen state-level monitoring to combat the sale of counterfeit and substandard products, which pose significant risks to farmers and the environment. 
5. Boost investment in R&D: Prioritize innovation in climate-resilient, locally formulated crop protection solutions. Encourage patents and public-private partnerships to reduce dependence on imports and multinationals.
6. Empower farmers through extension: Scale up training on safe pesticide handling, label comprehension, use of protective gear, and responsible disposal.
7. Precision Agriculture: Encourage the use of technology like drones, sensors, and satellite imagery to enable targeted and efficient pesticide application, minimizing waste and environmental contamination. 
8. Improve Extension Services: Strengthen agricultural extension services and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) to educate farmers on the correct and judicious use of pesticides, dosage, and safety precautions. 
9. Move from ‘post-emergence’ to ‘pre-emergence’ pesticide use: Farmers should be encouraged to shift from post-emergence pesticide application to prophylactic application of pre-emergent herbicides around or just after crop sowing. This will stop the weeds from coming out, helping keep the field clean from very start – thus, reducing the losses as well as cost of application of pesticides.

Conclusion:
Overall, India should aim to develop its own Sinochem – which owns MNCs like Syngenta & ADAMA – to reduce the monopoly of MNCs & import dependence of the pesticide sector. However, in the long term, the agriculture sector should be encouraged to move towards adopting more sustainable practices that relies less on chemical pesticides.