Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, told the Rajya Sabha on Friday that as many as 27 pesticides are being considered for the ban, and the government has formed an expert committee to look into the matter.
List of pesticides
Captan, Carbendazim, Carbofuran, Chlorpyriphos, 2,4-D, Deltamethrin, Dicofol, Dimethoate, Dinocap, Diuron, Malathion, Pendimethalin, Quinalphos, Sulfosulfuron, Mancozeb, Methomyl, Monocrotophos, Oxyfluorfen, Thiodicarb, Thiophanat emethyl, Thiram, Zineb and Ziram, Acephate, Atrazine, Benfuracarb, Butachlor.
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He stated that the Anupam Varma Committee had examined 66 pesticides. As a result, 12 pesticides were completely banned and six pesticides were phased out, in accordance with proper procedure.
DDT, which had been completely banned for agricultural use since May 1989, was allowed to be used in public health programs. ‘In addition, 27 of the aforementioned pesticides have been identified as being banned,’ he added, noting that the pesticide Fenitrothion is already prohibited for use in agriculture.
The pesticide Endosulfan has not been reviewed because it is being considered by the Supreme Court. It was suggested that up to 18 pesticides be kept in use.
So far, the government has prohibited or phased out the import, manufacture, or sale of 46 pesticides and four pesticide formulations in the country.
In addition, he said, five banned pesticides can only be manufactured for export, eight pesticide registrations have been withdrawn, and nine pesticides have been restricted in use.
Farmers who use e-NAM
In a separate response, the Minister stated that 8.78 lakh farmers have used the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) platform to sell their agricultural produce until June 30th, 2021-22. During the fiscal year 2020-21, 37.73 lakh farmers used it.
Farmers trade paddy, wheat, cotton, chilli, soybeans, maize, potato, chana, tomato, groundnut, mustard seeds, gaur seeds, onion, turmeric, arhar (tur / red gram), bajra, moong whole (green gram), castor seed, lentil (Masur), sweet lemon, and other crops on the e-NAM platform.
According to him, National Agriculture Market (eNAM) is a virtual platform that integrates physical wholesale mandis/markets from various states and Union Territories (UTs) to facilitate online trading of agriculture and horticulture commodities through a transparent price discovery method, allowing farmers to realize more remunerative prices for their produce.
Currently, 1,000 Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) have been established in 18 states and three UTs. The e-NAM platform does not allow for the capture of non-e-NAM mandis prices.
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The price of agricultural produce is primarily determined by supply, demand, climatic conditions, market location relative to the production area, and the quality of the produce, among other factors, he added.
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