Agriculture Segmentation
¾Broad Acre
Large land holdings typically 2000 to 10,000 hectares. Agriculture in USA,
Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Australia is largely broad acre. Use and
application of pesticides are mechanical with aerial spraying being widely
prevalent. Agriculture is intensive and yields high
¾Small Acre
Small land holdings typically 1 to 10 hectares with holdings of 50 to 200
hectares in some cases. Agriculture in India, China, Pakistan, large parts of
Africa and Asia is small acre. Use and application of pesticides are manual
with backpack sprayers and minimal mechanisation. Agriculture is
sustainable with varying yields
Chemical Crop Protection
¾ Insecticides
¾ Weedicides (Herbicides)
¾ Fungicides
¾ Plant Growth Regulators
World Agrochemicals Market
3%
Global 24%
26%
Insecticides
Fungicides
` 2 Lac Cr.
47%
¾The top 6 companies, all multinationals, account for 75% of the total
market
¾The top 3 companies, all European, account for over 50% of the total
market
¾ Over 67% of the market is either patented or proprietary and less
than 33% of this market is generic
¾ This market share has been built with a strong focus on patented and
proprietary crop protection chemicals supported by strong
regulations, driven by the European standards
¾ There is a strong motivation for European multinationals to replace
“low priced generics” with their “expensive patented alternatives”
Crop Protection: Usage
¾Worldwide over 1400 pesticide active ingredients have been registered and over
1055 active ingredients are currently in use
¾ In India 805 products are listed in the schedule with only 228 active ingredients
registered for use
¾Worldwide over 16,000 pesticide formulations based on the 1055 active
ingredients are labeled for use
¾ In India a little over 400 formulations based on the 228 active ingredients are
labeled for use
¾In Europe over 1260 pesticide active ingredients are currently listed as per
Annex 1
¾Contrary to public perception the usage of crop protection products is very low
in India compared to most parts of the world
Insecticides
¾widely used by the farmer to protect crops from
insect attacks and infestations
¾ contact or systemic
¾ broad spectrum or selective
¾ soft on beneficial, pollinators and predators
Regulations
¾ Use of pesticides is heavily regulated
¾ Plant Protection & Quarantine dept. of most countries
have clearly defined regulations which govern the use
and application of plant protection products
¾ Focus of regulatory authorities is on safe and correct
use of plant protection products with clearly defined
Maximum Residue Limits (MRL)
Endosulfan
¾ A broad spectrum generic “contact” insecticide soft on pollinators such as
honey bees and beneficial such as lady bird beetle, chrysoperla,
trichograma etc.
¾ Invented in Germany and in use in global agriculture for over 55 years.
Used in India for over 40 years
¾ Third largest selling generic insecticide worldwide with global market in
excess of 40 million liters valued at over US$ 300 million (>Rs 1350 cores)
with replacement cost of alternative estimated to be in excess of US$ 1
billion (>Rs 4500 crores)
¾ India’s share in global Endosulfan market is over 70%
¾ The Indian market of Endosulfan is approximately 12 million liters valued
at US$ 60 million (Rs 270 crores)
¾ Exports of Endosulfan from India is valued at US$ 40 million (Rs 180
crores)
¾ Today in the eye of the storm in the battle of “patented” vs “generic”
pesticides
Endosulfan – Journey in Europe
¾ Manufactured and exported out of Europe for over 55 years. Used in
Europe until 2005. No health issues in Europe relating to use of
Endosulfan
¾ Decision taken in 2001 by European manufacturer to phase out
Endosulfan
¾ In 2005 EU withdraws all authorisations for use of plant protection
products containing Endosulfan
¾ In 2007 the European manufacturer decides to stop manufacturing of
Endosulfan but decides to continue sales of product
¾ In 2007 the EU makes a submission to the Stockholm Convention
recommending the consideration of Endosulfan as a Persistent Organic
Pollutant (POP)
¾ In 2010 the European manufacturer announced that they would stop
selling Endosulfan by end of 2010
¾ The POP Review Committee (POPRC) during its 6th meeting in October
2010 recommends listing of Endosulfan as a POP
Endosulfan – Barriers to Trade
¾ Once the use of Endosulfan was discontinued in Europe attempts
were made to restrict the use of Endosulfan worldwide
¾ The EU regulatory authorities made it mandatory that Endosulfan
cannot be used in Cocoa cultivation in West Africa and refused to
import if Cocoa farmers used Endosulfan
¾ The MRL (Maximum Residue Limit) for use of Endosulfan in Tea
was reduced from 30 ppm to 0 ppm. This effectively meant that
the Indian Tea plantations could no longer use Endosulfan if they
had to export their tea to Europe
¾ The EU moved away from the international CODEX standards on
MRL for tea and decided to have its own standards
¾ If Endosulfan was used in fruits and vegetables they would not be
imported into Europe
Endosulfan : Stockholm Convention
¾ The Stockholm Convention is yet to take a final decision on the
recommendation on Endosulfan. The Conference of Parties (COP)
will meet in April 2011 to take a decision
¾ On the basis of submissions made by the European Union, the
Chemical Review Committee of POP in their 6th meeting in October
2010 at Geneva have recommended Endosulfan for listing as a
Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) under Annex A of the with
specific exemptions
¾ The recommendation was made taking into account that a lack of
full scientific certainty should not prevent a chemical from being
considered for listing
¾ All decisions by the POPRC taken so far on Endosulfan have been
without consensus. All recommendations have been made by
voting
Stockholm Convention: Irregularities
¾ While considering the EU proposal to list Endosulfan there were
serious procedural lapses:
9 The text of the convention, their articles and rules were not
followed
9 The process was not transparent
9 There was conflict of interest as European Union the notifying
party for Endosulfan also prepared the risk profile
9 The proposals to recommend Endosulfan lacked scientific merit
and decisions were taken despite significant data gaps
9 India’s protest and dissent notes were ignored and all the
decisions relating to Endosulfan were taken by voting in spite of
serious objections from India, China, Argentina and other
countries
Stockholm Convention: Fallout
¾ While a final decision on Endosulfan is yet to be taken a general
perception that Endosulfan is a Persistent Organic Pollutant has
already been built and independent regulatory action is being
triggered on the basis of the POPRC recommendations
¾ Based on these recommendations a number of countries announce
a ban or a phase out of Endosulfan over a 3 to 5 year period. Over
60 countries have joined the EU call for a ban on Endosulfan
¾ The 60 countries include 27 EU member states and 21 countries in
Africa and several other countries where Endosulfan was not
widely used
¾ None of the independent regulatory actions in many of these
countries have been based on incidences of adverse human health
in any of these countries
Endosulfan – Journey in India
¾ Has been in use as a broad spectrum insecticide since the 70’s largely in
cotton and other field crops
¾ Was imported into India until 1980
¾ India begins manufacturing Endosulfan from the early 80’s. There are
three Indian manufacturer’s of Endosulfan active including Hindustan
Insecticides Ltd, a Govt. of India enterprise
¾ Endosulfan is today the most widely used generic insecticide in India with
usage in cotton, pulses, Tea, Mango, Vegetables and oilseeds
¾ The only insecticide which is soft on Pollinators such as honeybees and
beneficial such as ladybird beetle, chrysoperla etc
¾ Widely recommended for use during pollination
¾ Widely recommended for use in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and
Insect Resistance Management (IRM) programs
Endosulfan – Cost Comparison
¾ Endosulfan has been linked to be the cause for these health effects
¾ Some Environmental NGO’s backed by EU funding unleashed a media
campaign by propagating the EU call for a ban on Endosulfan blaming it
for causing health problems. Some of them even went to the extent of
generating false data to support their position
¾ Successive committees appointed by the Govt. of India have concluded
that there is no evidence linking Endosulfan to the reports of adverse
human health effects
¾ Thousands of workers of Endosulfan who have been exposed to
Endosulfan and farmers who have used Endosulfan all over India have not
had any issues relating to human health and have volunteered that their
blood samples be tested for presence of Endosulfan residues
Endosulfan – Issues Involved
¾ For India its about ensuring affordable agriculture for its farmers
and food security for its people
¾ For sustainable and marginal farmers, its about their right to
choose, their right to affordable crop protection solutions
¾ For millions of farmers its about the right to plant protection
balanced with protecting their ecosystem
¾ For workers its about their right to dignity, their right to be
heard, their right to know the truth
¾ For the Scientific community it’s the quest for truth
¾ For Indian business its about their struggle for survival in the
battle of “patented” vs “generics”
¾ For the Indian consumer its about the cost of fresh fruits and
vegetables
THANK YOU