• Burmese
Monday, June 16, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
28 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Asia

Fake Pesticides Endanger Crops and Human Health in India

Krishna N. Das by Krishna N. Das
November 20, 2015
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
Fake Pesticides Endanger Crops and Human Health in India

Kashmiri farmers harvest paddy crops on the outskirts of Srinagar

2.6k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

FARIDABAD, India — Millions of unsuspecting Indian farmers are spraying fake pesticides onto their fields, contaminating soil, cutting crop yields and putting both food security and human health at risk in the country of 1.25 billion people.

The use of spurious pesticides has exacerbated losses in the genetically modified (GM) cotton crop in northern India after an attack by whitefly, a pest, officials said. If unchecked, some of India’s roughly US$26 billion in annual farm exports could be hit.

Made secretly and given names that sometimes resemble the original, counterfeits account for up to 30 percent of the $4 billion pesticide market, according to a government-endorsed study.

RelatedPosts

Myanmar Junta Attacks to Reclaim KIA’s Jade and Rare Earth Strongholds

Myanmar Junta Attacks to Reclaim KIA’s Jade and Rare Earth Strongholds

June 16, 2025
246
China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

June 16, 2025
372
Defusing the Thai-Cambodian Border Row

Defusing the Thai-Cambodian Border Row

June 16, 2025
213

And they are gaining market share in what is the world’s No.4 pesticide maker and sixth biggest exporter.

Influential dealers in small towns peddle high-margin fake products to gullible farmers, in turn hurting established firms like Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, DuPont , BASF, PI Industries, Rallis India and Excel Crop Care.

“We are illiterate farmers; we seek advice from the vendor and just spray on the crop,” said Harbans Singh, a farmer in Punjab’s Bathinda region, whose three-acre (1.2-hectare) GM cotton crop was damaged by whitefly this year.

“It’s a double loss when you see the crop wilting away and your money is spent on pesticides that don’t work.”

But S.N. Sushil, who heads India’s top pesticide testing laboratory in Faridabad, near Delhi, said farmers panic at the first sight of a pest attack.

As a result, they overuse chemicals, reducing their effectiveness and raising costs.

Sushil’s team worked overtime after Punjab sent nearly 1,000 samples of suspect pesticides following the whitefly outbreak, finding some to be falsely labelled.

Indian officials tested nearly 50,000 pesticide samples last fiscal year, finding around 3 percent of them “misbranded”, Sushil said.

He added the government was increasing inspections and looking to increase penalties, including jail terms of up to 10 years.

Toxic Racket

Lax laws, which punish by revoking licenses or imposing short jail terms for offenders, and staffing shortages compromise efforts to track and seize substandard products.

Toxic pesticides that are banned abroad continue, meanwhile, to be sold freely in India.

India still permits the use of monocrotophos, a pesticide blamed for the death of 23 children in Bihar in 2013 after they ate contaminated free school lunches. That tragedy prompted the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to advise developing countries to phase out such chemicals.

“Use of excessive pesticides has been a cause for concern for quite some time,” said Shyam Khadka, FAO’s India representative. “Now if they turn out to be spurious it’s a cause for even greater worry.”

Chronic exposure to pesticides can lead to depression, a factor in suicides, he said. Pesticides can also cause cancer.

In recent years the European Union and Saudi Arabia temporarily stopped buying some vegetables from India after finding pesticide residues in produce. Indian officials say such cases result from the overuse of chemicals.

Rapid Growth in Fakes

India’s fake pesticide industry is expanding at 20 percent per year while the overall market is growing at 12 percent.

“We know that a racket is going on,” said P.K. Chakrabarty, an assistant director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research. “But it is only when suspicion arises that people go to inspect.”

He also said illegal chemicals are imported “under the garb of good material,” and that there was a “definite risk” of some fake pesticides being exported from India, although there was no evidence yet.

“Theoretically it becomes a risk, but practically there are checks and balances,” said Gantakolla Srivastava, CEO of CropLife India, an association of the top pesticide companies operating in the country.

Knock Offs

Karnataka state authorities this month seized large stocks of “Korajen,” an illegal copy of DuPont’s Coragen used to kill rice pests. Police are investigating similar cases elsewhere, DuPont said.

Punjab has also filed police cases against fake pesticide makers and arrested a senior official at its agriculture university for allowing the sale of counterfeits.

Apart from counterfeiting, India is also grappling with rising cases of unmonitored chemicals passed off as herbal pesticides, said Srivastava.

India loses about 4 percent, or over 10 million tons, of food output a year due to fake pesticides, said the government-backed study.

“There has been a trend of increasing consumption of [fake] products as against the regular ones,” said Manish Panchal of Tata Strategic Management Group that conducted the study.

“All stakeholders should be worried … it’s going to hit food security.”

Last year spurious fungicides cut apple production in Jammu and Kashmir state, while farming lobbyists have linked recent farmer suicides in Odisha to fake pesticides.

Some producers say they have been wrongly targeted by government laboratories. Coromandel Agrico, for example, was accused of selling falsely labelled products.

Tests that found it selling pesticides in incorrect dosages were inaccurate, said Vipin Bisht, the company’s regulatory affairs officer.

“We will not take the risk of selling sub-standard products,” Bisht said. “The problem is at the dealer/distributor level. Similar sounding products are made, mixed, sold.”

Your Thoughts …
Krishna N. Das

Krishna N. Das

Similar Picks:

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang
Burma

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 28, 2023
98.3k

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops are opening roads and pathways through forests for people to flee Kokang’s capital as...

Read moreDetails
Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public
Burma

Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public

by The Irrawaddy
February 7, 2024
89.3k

People’s Defense Force says junta troops told every household in the village to send one member to witness the double...

Read moreDetails
Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State
War Against the Junta

Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State

by The Irrawaddy
November 29, 2023
87k

Brotherhood Alliance member says it now has complete control of Kokang’s northernmost section after the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 125...

Read moreDetails
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks
Burma

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

by The Irrawaddy
December 4, 2023
59k

The junta said deserters would not be punished for minor crimes, highlighting the military’s shortage of troops as resistance offensives...

Read moreDetails
As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue
Burma

As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue

by The Irrawaddy
April 19, 2024
46.9k

The junta’s No. 2 has not been seen in public since April 3, sparking rumors that he was either gravely...

Read moreDetails
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow
Burma

Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow

by The Irrawaddy
February 12, 2024
44.7k

Ethnic armed grouping says it will continue Operation 1027 offensive until goal of ousting the junta is achieved. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Behind Pomp of APEC Summit

Behind Pomp of APEC Summit, Crushing Poverty Endures

China Says 28 Foreign-Led ‘Terrorists’ Killed After Attack on Mine

China Says 28 Foreign-Led ‘Terrorists’ Killed After Attack on Mine

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

The Hidden Fallout From China’s Cross-Border Crime Crackdown in Myanmar

The Hidden Fallout From China’s Cross-Border Crime Crackdown in Myanmar

1 week ago
1.7k
Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

3 days ago
1.2k

Most Read

  • China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

    China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sagaing Protesters Condemn Civilian Govt Toll Charges

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sagaing Region Braced for Myanmar Junta Airstrikes After Jet Crash

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.