Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 9811 |
| Work Detail | The state agriculture department will soon sign a MoU with the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, to carry out research and produce biopesticides to help farmers make less or no use of chemical pesticides to get rid of the crop destroying pests. The department had to think through this initiative as there has been no support from the government for the last one decade for its request to appoint entomologists and researchers to run the state biocontrol laboratory set up at Ela farm in Old Goa. The main objective of biocontrol laboratory is to control pests through the use of natural predators instead of using chemical pesticides. This method is also known as integrated pest management or IPM. The lab has a mass production facility with a capacity of producing 1,000 kg of biopesticides. However, due to the absence of researchers and entomologists, no research and mass production have taken place. Officials of the agriculture department said that they have been demanding qualified staff for the biocontrol lab for a long time but there has been no support from the government. “After assessing the demand for fungicides and pesticides in the state, we decided to partner with the UAS, Dharwad to rope in their expertise, knowledge and technology for producing biopesticides, biofertilisers, seed processing unit and carry out scientific study on types of pests that attack the crop,” they said. Presently, the lab has unqualified staff but still comes out with two types of natural predators like trichogramma and chrisopella used in pest management of crops such as coconut trees and leafy vegetables. Such parasites created in biocontrol laboratories are offered to farmers at low rates to enable them to take advantage of better crop production techniques. To combat the pest attack, the farmers in the state use a large quantity of chemical pesticides. The price of pesticides has been rising regularly pushing up the cost of production. The indiscriminate and continuous use of pesticides strengthens resistance in pests calling for the use of more and more pesticides of higher concentration, the officials added. The department has also set up a fertiliser control lab in Ela farm fully funded by the central government under the ‘strengthening of fertiliser quality control laboratories scheme’. The department has taken up the responsibility to ensure that the chemicals used in fertilisers comply with safety standards prescribed by regulatory bodies and possess no potential threat to human health. “A state-of-the-art laboratory, with modern instruments and advanced technological equipment, will be commissioned within next three months at a total cost of Rs 50 lakh,” the officials said. The agriculture department has been facing a hard time in checking the quality of fertilisers as there is no facility or system to do so. At present, the notified fertiliser inspector draws samples of various fertilisers from the fertiliser manufacturing unit and fertiliser dealers and sends them for analysis to the Regional Fertiliser Control Laboratory based at Navi Mumbai, the Central Fertiliser Control Laboratory and the Regional Centre for Organic Farming. Around 67 inspections had been carried out during the period 2012 to 2014 and licences of fertiliser dealers and manufacturing unit were suspended for more than a year for not following the ‘Fertilizer Control Order, 1985’. |
| Country | India , Southern Asia |
| Industry | Food & Agriculture |
| Entry Date | 15 Oct 2016 |
| Source | http://www.navhindtimes.in/agriculture-dept-pitches-for-biopesticides/ |
