Salil Singhal, CMD, PI Industries Ltd. on the challenges of the pesticides sector
Having been associated with agriculture since 1967, Salil Singhal, CMD, PI Industries has a lot to talk about in a free flowing interview with Niharika Patra
B&E: What actually is the flaw with Indian agriculture?
Salil Singhal (SS): The input side of agriculture has issues. For example, if you compare the production to pesticides usage, India has a total cropped area of around 167 million hectares while the US has around 172 million hectares. In pesticides consumption, US figure is around $7 billion while for India it is $1.2 billion. Because of poor use of pesticides we are loosing crop to the tune of $20 billion per annum. The cost benefit ratio in agriculture is very high to the tune of Rs. 19 per Re.1 employed for some crops, and if you compare the $ 22 billion in fertilizer subsidies, we have grown the crops for the pests to eat it away. There are many other problems like procedures of introducing new seeds, the distribution of subsidies et al. There seems to be little focus.
B&E: How do you compare the era of 60’s and present. Do you think there has been any kind of deterioration?
SS: No. Undoubtedly, the Green Revolution gave us a lot. Today, even without favourable conditions we can produce 210-230 million tonnes of foodgrains. But looking at the changing food habits, what we have is not enough to satisfy this ever changing need. We have to double our food grain output and agricultural output resource to be able to do that. But we are not geared for that right now and agriculture needs structural changes.
B&E: What is the focus of the pesticide industry in relation to the productivity of the crop?
SS: Cost benefit is a very important input. The second important input is quality output. Organic farming doesn’t work for quality. Petsicides can give quality with high productivity and that is our focus.
B&E: There is a lot of hue and cry about the excessive use of chemicals. What are your views?
SS: Pesticides usage has come up very recently while the fertilizers have been used for a long time. Today, we understand that there is a problem and we have identified it and it needs to be resolved.
B&E: Does pesticide industry face challenge from the genetically modified (GM) crops?
SS: Yes. The problem is that the science of pesticides is changing phenomenally. The whole science and technology of agri-chemicals has changed. Like pharma, the pesticides industry keeps changing quickly but that is not there in GM crops. The cost of new discovery is very high ($600-800 million and atleast 8-10 years to commercialise it). Then there are the regulations. Until 2005 companies were allowed ‘me-too’ registrations. This is where India has been the biggest looser The ‘me-too’ registration has nearly destroyed the Indian pesticide industry. We also have the most in-efficient and corrupt regulatory mechanism.
B&E: How do you see the growth by the Chinese market and its effects on India?
SS: There is a lot of illegal import by the fly-by-night operators from China. There are certain groups within the industry who are trying to bring in the Chinese agenda of reverse engineering.
B&E: How well suited are Indian pesticides companies for M&As. What about PI Industries.
SS: I have not seen many foreign companies taking up Indian companies. It would be too early to comment on this. We are definitely looking forward to M&As and are fully prepared to fit into any good deal that comes forward.
Having been associated with agriculture since 1967, Salil Singhal, CMD, PI Industries has a lot to talk about in a free flowing interview with Niharika Patra
B&E: What actually is the flaw with Indian agriculture?
Salil Singhal (SS): The input side of agriculture has issues. For example, if you compare the production to pesticides usage, India has a total cropped area of around 167 million hectares while the US has around 172 million hectares. In pesticides consumption, US figure is around $7 billion while for India it is $1.2 billion. Because of poor use of pesticides we are loosing crop to the tune of $20 billion per annum. The cost benefit ratio in agriculture is very high to the tune of Rs. 19 per Re.1 employed for some crops, and if you compare the $ 22 billion in fertilizer subsidies, we have grown the crops for the pests to eat it away. There are many other problems like procedures of introducing new seeds, the distribution of subsidies et al. There seems to be little focus.
B&E: How do you compare the era of 60’s and present. Do you think there has been any kind of deterioration?
SS: No. Undoubtedly, the Green Revolution gave us a lot. Today, even without favourable conditions we can produce 210-230 million tonnes of foodgrains. But looking at the changing food habits, what we have is not enough to satisfy this ever changing need. We have to double our food grain output and agricultural output resource to be able to do that. But we are not geared for that right now and agriculture needs structural changes.
B&E: What is the focus of the pesticide industry in relation to the productivity of the crop?
SS: Cost benefit is a very important input. The second important input is quality output. Organic farming doesn’t work for quality. Petsicides can give quality with high productivity and that is our focus.
B&E: There is a lot of hue and cry about the excessive use of chemicals. What are your views?
SS: Pesticides usage has come up very recently while the fertilizers have been used for a long time. Today, we understand that there is a problem and we have identified it and it needs to be resolved.
B&E: Does pesticide industry face challenge from the genetically modified (GM) crops?
SS: Yes. The problem is that the science of pesticides is changing phenomenally. The whole science and technology of agri-chemicals has changed. Like pharma, the pesticides industry keeps changing quickly but that is not there in GM crops. The cost of new discovery is very high ($600-800 million and atleast 8-10 years to commercialise it). Then there are the regulations. Until 2005 companies were allowed ‘me-too’ registrations. This is where India has been the biggest looser The ‘me-too’ registration has nearly destroyed the Indian pesticide industry. We also have the most in-efficient and corrupt regulatory mechanism.
B&E: How do you see the growth by the Chinese market and its effects on India?
SS: There is a lot of illegal import by the fly-by-night operators from China. There are certain groups within the industry who are trying to bring in the Chinese agenda of reverse engineering.
B&E: How well suited are Indian pesticides companies for M&As. What about PI Industries.
SS: I have not seen many foreign companies taking up Indian companies. It would be too early to comment on this. We are definitely looking forward to M&As and are fully prepared to fit into any good deal that comes forward.
Read these article :-
No comments:
Post a Comment