Maharashtra government wants proper norms for insecticide supply

Amid the backlash after 21 farmers died in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal after allegedly inhaling poisonous pesticides, the state government on Saturday appealed to the Centre to put in place strict norms for supply of pesticides and toxic insecticides and their pricing. At the meeting chaired by Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh here, the government urged that the highly toxic insecticides should not be provided directly to the farmers for spraying but it should be done through a well trained licensee such as a pest control operator.

The state, which was represented by the agriculture minister Pandurang Phundkar, his deptuty Sadabhau Khot and cooperation and marketing minister Subhash Deshmukh, informed Singh that pesticides that were not recommended or the ones that were not meant for Bt Cotton were distributed and used in Yavatmal district. The state agriculture department subsequently found that a toxic and expensive pesticide was sold to farmers to earn profits.

State agriculture department officer, who was present at the meeting, said, “The department has already cracked down on illegal stocking of highly toxic pesticides. The government wants the Centre to step in so that supply will be made through trained licensee.’’

This apart, the state government appealed to Singh to make necessary changes so that registration certificate for bio-pesticides to manufacturers are issued in a time bound manner. “At this stage, registration certificate for bio-pesticides are not issued in time as it takes more than four to five years. This needs to be changed on a priority basis,’’ the officer said.