November 19, 2001

'27'

RS. 50,000 CRORE FOOD LOSS ANNUALLY DUE TO PESTS

        The Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav today said that the universal challenge before mankind today is to increase the global agricultural production to meet the demand of food, feed and fibre. Inaugurating the International Conference on Pesticides, Environment and Food Security here today Shri Yadav said that by the year 2050 the population of the world is estimated to cross the 10 billion mark. This, he said means that by that time we have to triple our agricultural production and that is possible either through increasing the area under cultivation three times or increasing the production potential. He added that biotechnology may help in increasing the production potential. Appreciating the efforts at increasing the food production in the country the Minister said that the food production has increased tremendously and the country has a surplus stock of foodgrains. But the quality of the foodgrains and other agricultural produce available for human consumption needs attention, he added. Citing the example of rejection of agricultural produces exported by the developing countries into the developed countries he said the rejection indicates that the food available in the developing countries is of questionable quality and may be unfit for human consumption.

        The Minister said, India is fast emerging as an exporting country in the field of agriculture. The commodities having excessive pesticides residues are unacceptable by most of the importing countries and act as a non-tariff barrier. This has caused considerable loss to the country and the grower/exporter alike. It is, therefore, of utmost concern that pesticide residues are kept below the prescribed MRL values both for domestic and export market. There is an urgent need to ban the use of pesticides which toxic and whose residues persist for long duration in food commodities and environment, he added.

        Stating that one-third of the global food production potential is lost due to pest infestation and other damages, the Minister said that the crop losses in India range from 10 to 30 per cent depending on the crop, region and severity of pest infestation. He said that in monetary terms the loss is estimated at more than Rs.50,000 crore, and if, half of this loss was reduced, a substantial quantity of food can be made available for human consumption.

        About 200 agricultural scientists from India and countries like Japan, USA, UK, Italy, Switzerland, Jamaica etc. are participating in the five-day conference organised by the Society of Pesticide Science India. The Conference will deliberate on several issues including development of new pesticide molecules, synthetic and bio-pesticides, pesticide delivery systems towards occupational and environmental safety, pesticides and environment, pesticide management for human safety and food security, intellectual proprietary rights (IPR) on pesticides and pesticides industry – prospects and constraints.