LAHORE:
A proposed authorities ban on 12 extensively used agrochemicals has triggered alarm throughout Pakistan’s agriculture sector as specialists warn it could actually cripple crop yields, inflate prices for farmers and destabilise meals safety.
The proposal, mentioned throughout a latest assembly of the Agricultural Pesticides Technical Advisory Committee, bypassed stakeholder consultations and statutory procedures, elevating issues about its scientific foundation and long-term penalties. Business leaders argue the transfer ignores world requirements for regulating pesticides. CropLife Pakistan Govt Director Muhammad Rasheed confused that the ban focused energetic substances with out addressing the basis problem, misuse by farmers and poor dealing with throughout storage.
“That is like banning life-saving medicines as a result of some sufferers take overdose; the issue is just not the pesticides themselves however how they’re utilized. We’d like higher enforcement and training, not elimination,” Rasheed mentioned whereas speaking to a bunch of journalists on Wednesday.
The 12 energetic substances underneath menace are very important for controlling pests in main crops like rice, wheat, cotton, vegetables and fruit. Eradicating them, specialists warn, might slash yields, drive up manufacturing prices and depart farmers weak to pest outbreaks. With restricted options obtainable, abrupt bans danger accelerating pest resistance, making future management even more durable.
Rasheed highlighted that fifty% of pesticide residue points in exports stemmed from mishandling at storage amenities, not throughout discipline use. “Coaching employees and bettering grain storage practices might resolve half of the issue in a single day,” he mentioned. The financial ripple results might be extreme. A sudden provide hole might disrupt planting cycles, threaten rural livelihoods and deter funding in agriculture. Multinational corporations have poured hundreds of thousands into Pakistan’s agrochemical sector, however the proposed ban dangers eroding belief. “Buyers will not decide to a market the place insurance policies shift in a single day,” Rasheed cautioned.
The controversy deepens because the ban clashes with the prime minister’s repeated pledges to prioritise agriculture as a pillar of financial development. Throughout a latest assembly, the secretary of meals safety admitted that the PM Workplace pushed for the ban after traces of pesticide residue led to export rejections, notably in rice shipments to Europe and China.
Whereas business gamers agree on the necessity to meet worldwide security requirements, they criticise the federal government’s method as shortsighted. “A blanket ban is a sledgehammer the place we want precision,” Rasheed mentioned. He argued that authorities had didn’t implement correct pesticide use, opting as an alternative for an “straightforward repair” that would backfire.
As an alternative of outlawing essential instruments, CropLife Pakistan urges a science-based technique. Proposals embrace coaching farmers on appropriate pesticide use, launching residue monitoring programs and providing monetary incentives for compliant rice producers. Collaborating with teams just like the Rice Exporters Affiliation of Pakistan (REAP) to advertise cluster farming, the place small farmers undertake unified practices, might additionally enhance sustainability. “Banning these chemical compounds will not remedy residue points; it should deprive farmers of important safety,” Rasheed warned. He emphasised that agrochemicals, when used responsibly, protected crops and incomes. With out them, Pakistan’s meals safety and export ambitions might falter.
Whereas pesticide misuse have to be addressed, stakeholders stress that dialogue and innovation, not reactionary bans, are the important thing.
“We’re able to work with the federal government on options that shield each exports and our farmers,” Rasheed mentioned, including “however we want insurance policies grounded in science, not panic, with hundreds of thousands of livelihoods and the nation’s meals provide at stake. The trail ahead will form Pakistan’s farming panorama for the years to return.”