The four day long National Agrochemicals Congress with the theme Country's Status on Various Fronts of Agrochemicals concluded here today. The plenary sessions had deliberations on Issues and Concerns of Agrochemicals for sustainable farming. Recommendations from the congress included labelling of pesticide indicating the mode of action, status of country’s preparedness in invasive exigencies, to rethink on restrictive banning of pesticides in view of risk based considerations, policy regarding data protection of imported technical pesticides, policy for introduction of safe nano-formulations and empowerment of farmers through training and extension.

In the concluding session, Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member NitiAyog outlined the importance of responsible use of agrochemicals utilising precision technologies to reduce wastageof applied chemicals into environments.Prof. Chand advised the stakeholders to discourage false claims about agrochemicals and tackle the spread of wrong perception in public about agrochemicals. He exhorted agrochemicals scientists and microbiologists to workout on chemical and microbial interventions to transform biomass waste into a wealth.

DrTrilochanMohapatra, DG ICAR addressing the session said that agrochemicals will continue to play a major input in agriculture to meet the crop production targets and we must strive to ensure its safe and judicious use. He requested the scientists to comprehensively work upon the aspects of nano-pesticide approach to ensure safety of humans, livestock and environment.

Speaking at the session, Dr. Ashok Dalwai, CEO NRAAsaid that there is a need for reorientation in the thought process of society with regard to agrochemicals and experts have a big role in this exercise. He emphasized upon liberalization of registration procedures, enforcement of regulations at state level and access to technical pesticides.

This was the first ever National Agrochemicals Congress and was held at IARI, Pusa. The Congress is being conducted by Society of Pesticide Science India, Division of Agricultural Chemicals, ICAR-IARI and it was announced that hereafter it will be conducted in three years. This yThe Congress is conducted in view of the role chemical pesticides still continue to play in pest management as more and more target specific and environment friendly products are being introduced. The benefits of pesticide use are high relative to their risks. New concepts in crops, human health, resource management, nanotechnology, smart formulations and related sciences are likely to boost agricultural productivity. With this background, current status of agrochemicals on various fronts have been collated for researchers and policy makers in order to ensure agriculture grow in a sustainable manner.

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APS/JP

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