The Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers Ananth Kumar has proposed to recommend banning pesticide harmful to the bees to the Department of Agriculture.
Ananth Kumar, while speaking at the 4th National Conference on Agrochemicals 2014, in New Delhi today, said that the government proposes to come out with a new holistic fertilizer policy, which will also follow global best practices even in such areas to make a paradigm shift for sustainable food and nutrition security by removing disturbing anomalies.
Minister said that a Task Force of Experts in the field will be constituted to frame such a policy soon. He believed that this could provide for a national platform for farmers to use bio-fertilisers. Elaborating on the theme for the conference: “Agrochemicals for Ensuring Food and Nutritional Security of the Nation”, he said the Green Revolution of 60s and 70s was not a holistic, but a truncated revolution.
He also expressed serious concern at irrational usage of fertilizers and said, this could have an adverse affect for achieving a sustainable food and nutritional security for the nation.
The Minister said that the Government proposes to bring forward the pending Pesticides Management Bill, 2008 in the next Winter Session of the Parliament.
Even while calling for increased Research and Development in the field of bio-fertilisers, the Minister for Chemicals & Fertilisers said that his ministry is following it up with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for allocating more gas to increase fertilizer production in the country. His Ministry is also trying to revive the sick and closed fertilizer units in the public sector, Kumar added.
The Minister called for further development in the pesticides production, which is already the 4th largest in the world, to achieve unrealized potential of the country and to further boost exports in the sector.
In his key-note address the global president DuPont Crop Production Pvt. Ltd Mr. Rik L. Miller has said that innovations, investments and critical collaborations for R&D is very important in the sector. Several experts in the field are participating in the two-day National Conference.
