P N KarlekarManaging Director, Cheminova India

Limited3rd February, 2013

India Habitat Centre, New Delhi

Role of Agrochemicals in Production of Food,

Feed, Fibre, Energy & Bio Plastics

Conference on Doubling Food Production in Five Years

Contents

Food Scenario

Economic Indicators

Relevance of Agriculture

Importance of Agrochemicals

Role of Industry

Thought to Ponder Over

Food Scenario

1964-65 : very good monsoon but still food aid was

7 Mio Tons out of 68 Mio Tons.

1965-66 : in drought food production reduced by

17 Mio Tons and therefore foreign experts opined

that India could never be self-sufficient in food.

2012 monsoon comparable to 1965 - 66

Green revolution raised total food availability due to

increased yields

Food Scenario

Starvation reduced because of reasons largely other than

Agriculture :

Better distribution/roads

Better employment and consequent affordability.

Irrigation from 30% to 55% through bore wells (4/5th of total)

Good Rabi due to bore wells.

Agriculture as % GDP reduction from 52% to 14%.

Now India can afford import food.

Food stocks are 80 Mio Tons.

Drought may no longer mean starvation but inflation

Food Scenario

Rising Population with Growing Income driving the Food demand

By 2020, India’s Population to be 1.32 billion & needs 300 Mio Mt. of Food grains to meet the demand

Per Capita Income in Rs.

Indian Population in Mn.

Source :- CSO

Present Food Production not enough to meet the growing demand

Fluctuating and stagnant Production of Food grains in fact declined the availability from 510 g in 1991 to 460 g in 2011

Source :- Dept. of Agriculture & Cooperation

Nutritional Status of Indian Population is far from satisfactory India ranks 67th in a list of 81

countries on the World Hunger Index

In India 828 Million People under mal

nutrition and 551 million people in

Sub – Saharan Africa

Unfortunately, half of the World’s

hungry people are in India

21 % of our Population is

undernourished, 50 % of Children are

malnourished & 75% of Women

suffer from anemia

Economic Indicators

Economic Indicators

GDP Growth in 2012 est. to be 5.5 % against Budget Estimate of 7.6 %

Indian GDP : US $ 1.7 trillion (INR 75 Lac Cr.)

Total Liabilities : INR 51 Lac Cr. (Sovereign Debt, Pensions, Savings Liability)

Tax Revenue : INR 7.7 Lac Cr.

Expenses : INR 13.2 Lac Cr.

Fiscal deficit : INR 5.2 Lac Cr.

Fixed Expenses :

Interest - INR 2.8 Lac Cr.

Defence – INR 1.8 Lac Cr.

Subsidies – INR 2.2 Lac Cr.

Proposed Food Security Bill – INR 1.5 Lac Cr

Economic Indicators

Current A/C deficit – 4.2 %

Fiscal deficit – 5.7 %

Revenue Deficit – 3.4 %

India’s debt to GDP ratio - 80%

Av. WPI Inflation – 7.5 %

Declining Capital Expenditure to total Expenditure

1991 - 25 %

2013 - 14 %

Central bank has enhanced the investment limit in debt instruments for FII’S

from $10 bn to $75 bn, perhaps to help finance current account deficit (4.2%

against maximum desired 3% )

Our External debt has worsened by $20 bn in September compared to March.

Foreign Exchange reserves / External debt is now 80% from earlier 85%

The debt to be repaid in near term accounted for 43% of total External debt &

52% of Foreign Exchange Reserves

India Probably needs to grow at 6% or more to maintain financial Stability.

Lower growth than that, would make the public debt harder to bear & scare

off Foreign Capital that India needs to fund its current account deficit & pay for

its imported energy

Economic Indicators

India’s dependence on Foreign Oil is growing & Fuel Import is 38 % of total

Merchandize Imports

Less than 1/3 rd of the Population uses LPG for Cooking

300 Million don’t have access to Electricity

40% Power Lost in Transmission

54,000 MW Power against the target of 78700 MW during the 11th Plan at only

69 % of the target

Only 46.9 % of the total 246.6 million households have toilet facilities and in

stark contrast, 63.2 % of the households own a telephone, 53.2 % mobile

phones, 47.2 % own Television.

Reforms are needed in Electricity, Labour, Land & Capital

Economic Indicators

Relevance of Agriculture

Relevance of Agriculture

Contributors to the Growth

Relevance of Agriculture

IT employs only 2.0 Mio out of 1.2 Billion. Services

alone can not possibly feed millions

In two decades from now, there will be 2 billion more people wanting

& deserving to boost themselves out of poverty

Growth in Agriculture Sector is 4 times more effective in reducing

Poverty than other Sectors

UN projection is that India will cross China’s population by 2030 & will

reach 1.6 billion by 2050

People packed in Slums need help but the problems that need’s solving

is poverty not over population.

80 % of Public Expenditure in Agriculture in Input Subsidies (Fertilizers,

Power & Irrigation) & remaining 20 % only as Investment in Agriculture

Relevance of Agriculture

Rising Food Prices hurting the common man “Aam Admi”

There is not a quick fix of the price issue :- Bold Reforms required

Investment in Agriculture by Govt. is not that easy given the fiscal deficit of est. 5.7 % in 2012 - 13

% Share of Food in Total Consumption Expenditure

Indian spend ~ 50 % of their total monthly expenditure on Food

Rural India Spend ~ 30 % of their food expenditure on Rice &

Wheat & Urban India ~ 22 %.

Decreasing arable land - challenges of producing more from less

India with 11 % of

arable land to feed 17 %

of the World Population

Arable Land :– 166 Mio

Ha to 158 Mio Ha

Land for non

agricultural uses :- 7 %

in 1991 to 10 % in 2010

One Viable Option -

Improving Agricultural

Productivity to satisfy

the growing demand for

food, fibre, fuel &

bioplastics

Diminishing Average Land Holding (Ha.)

Importance of Agrochemicals

Relevance of Agrochemicals

In India, Only 25 – 30 % farmers are aware of the use of Pesticides with ~ 35

– 40 % of the farm lands under crop protection

There is an urgent need to educate the farmers on the benefits of using

agrochemicals to raise farm productivity

Cost : Benefit Ratio of Agrochemical Usage

On an average, India

import ~ 3 Mio Mt. of

Pulses every year at a

cost of INR 10,000

Crores & research

proved that Control of

Pod borer - a common

pest can reduce the

India’s reliance on

Pulses import Increasing yields, in my view, is the only

feasible solution to address the problem of

stagnant arable land feeding the rising

population and ensuring “Food Security”

Usage of herbicides with less tillage (Zero Tillage) enable farmers to

grow more per unit area and prevent soil erosion

Weed control can enhance 2 – 3 Million Mt. of Pulse Production :- Dr. K.

Kasturirangan (Member Planning Commission)

100 % Seed treatment – Efficient way of controlling losses & getting

better quality yield

Weedy rice :- difficult to control by manual weeding as it looks same

in the beginning & can reduce the rice yield by 40 %. :- Dr. Jay G

Varshney – Director – DWSR (Directorate of Weed Science Research)

Health & Hygiene :- Mosquito Control, Malaria Parasites

Agro Chemicals for Sustainable Agriculture & Human Health

Key Differentiator

Technology – Lowest Common Denominator

Gap between on Yields with Improved Agronomic Practices and

adoption of modern technologies in Punjab & Haryana compares well

with the developed nation

Wide spread

Adoption of

Herbicides use in rice

& wheat in Punjab

& Haryana in a way

contributed to

higher productivity

Organic Agriculture

Green Movement presupposes that Life of Future

generation in developed world is more important than

present lives of Developing / under Developed World

Organic Agriculture

Some findings on Organic Agriculture -

India’s total Organic Food Production – 1.8 Mio Mt

Yield is 35 – 62 % lower than the conventional

Organic requires 35 % more labour

Affordability of Organic Foods ????

Long Term Sustainability ???

Myths about Pesticides Toxicity

Organic foods are not safer than Conventional

Role of Agrochemicals

Enhanced Productivity matching the Per acre yield with

the best of the world

More Grains per unit of Land

More Grains per unit of Labour

More Grains per unit of Water

More Grains per unit of Energy

Agrochemicals fulfilling the global cause of feeding billions, many

of whom are still suffering starvation, while conserving the scarce

resources such as Land, Water & Energy

Role of Industry

Enlightening the Bureaucrat, Judiciary, Media, Political master &

Society at large on the positive contribution & crucial importance

of Agrochemicals & busting the myth about toxicity

Making Investment of time & training resources for educating

farmers about best Agricultural Practices

Making Investment in Agriculture by participating in Micro

Projects through PPP

Cheminova’s Humble Contribution Cheminova’s one of the belief that “Education” is crucial for building a

Just, equitable, humane & sustainable Society

Education is a good equalizer specifically for underprivileged & disadvantaged sections of the Society

Cheminova India Limited in coordination with State Agricultural Universities,

Agricultural Deptt. & Non – Governmental Organization have selected few villages

which are not easily accessible across agro climatic regions of India for making

little difference in their way of life by working together with the rural populace.

Cheminova’s Mission

“We help improve quality of life for

the world’s population by supplying

products that help farmers increase yields and

quality of crops to satisfy

the global demand for food, feed, fiber and energy.”

We Contribute to make a Better World – We make a difference!

Thought to Ponder Over

Thought to Ponder Over Entire Developed World gives lip service in Organic

Farming, whereas uses best of the Agricultural

Technology incl. scientific use of appropriate

quantities of Agrochemical to achieve Superior Yields

& Quality

Real need of higher yield is more for India which has

maximum population of BPL families

The real need for India is to reduce Poverty & not

Population

Thank You