Discussion on draft document

Weekly Progress Report

Neghi Ilampirayan
17/05/21
 Introduction
Reduce
• Strategy based on modified ‘3R’s
• Replace Replace
• Reduce
• Remediate

Remediate
Replace

• Preparation of red list

• Finding a suitable less harmful substitute as a replacement
• If possible, replacement of chemical pesticides usage with the best
available biopesticides
Reduce

• Motto: ‘Use wisely, save soil health and improve your health'
• In cases where the replacement is not available, follow Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) - IPM by small and marginal farmers and its role
in promoting the country's economy and food sufficiency.
• With small and marginal farmers accounting for more than 50% of
our Agro-Economy their adoption of IPM plays a vital role.
• 'Reduce' the exposure use proper protective equipment.
• 'Reduce' seepage by proper handling and disposal.
Remediate

• Reported literatures on the presence of pesticide residues in

groundwater, river bed, drinking water etc.
• 'Remediate’ using technology available to make positive interference
to break down known harmful chemicals and reduce their toxicity
level while water reaches for ultimate consumption.
• Can be taken as augmented treatment along with existing Municipal
water treatment. Ex: Advanced Oxidation Processes
Pesticide Industry Claim – Misleading
• “Per capita pesticide consumption in India is
0.6 kg per hectare as compared to 7 kg per
hectare in USA and 13 kg per hectare in
China and therefore India has huge potential
to improve its productivity by increasing per
hectare usage to higher levels”

Source: FICCI, Tata Strategic

Estimates
 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑑
𝑃𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑒 =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑

1. What type of land areas are taken in the calculation of arable lands to derive the
numbers for pesticide consumption per hectare usage?
2. Does the arable land include adjacent forest zone and green zone areas?
3. Does the overall arable land tally include the tradition farm lands?
4. If the answers for questions 2 and 3 have been included in the following equation
1, the number calculated (0.6 kg per hectare) might not be the correct
representation of the Indian pesticide usage scenario.
Technology Intervention
• Sensors for soil health monitoring

• Availability of proper QR coding/holograms to check the authenticity of pesticide

manufacturers and the ingredients

• Technology that enables usage of biopesticides and chemical pesticides in tandem

thereby reducing the load of chemical pesticides

• Technology for remediation like advanced oxidation process that can augment the
existing Municipal water treatment Technologies for reducing the the content of
harmful pesticides in drinking water