Conference on Doubling Food Production in Five Years
Role of Agrochemicals in Production of Food,
Feed, Fibre, Energy & Bio Plastics
P N Karlekar
Managing Director, Cheminova India Limited
3rd February, 2013
India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Contents
 Food Scenario
 Economic Indicators
 Relevance of Agriculture
 Importance of Agrochemicals
 Role of Industry
 Thought to Ponder Over
Food Scenario
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
Rising Population with Growing Income driving the Food demand
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By 2020, India’s Population to be 1.32 billion & needs 300 Mio Mt. of
Food grains to meet the demand
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 %
Economic Indicators

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
Relevance of Agriculture
Relevance of Agriculture
Contribu
tors
to
the
Growth
Relevance of Agriculture
IT employs only 2.0 Mio out of 1.2 Billion. Services
alone can not possibly feed millions
Relevance of Agriculture

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
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
Improving
Option
-
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
Crores
INR
&
10,000
research
proved that Control of
Pod borer - a common
pest can reduce the
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”
India’s
reliance
Pulses import
on
Agro Chemicals for Sustainable Agriculture & Human Health
 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
Key Differentiator
Technology – Lowest Common Denominator
Wide spread
Adoption of
Herbicides use in rice
& wheat in Punjab
& Haryana in a way
contributed to higher
productivity
Gap between on Yields with Improved Agronomic Practices and
adoption of modern technologies in Punjab & Haryana compares well
with the developed nation
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
disadvantaged sections of the Society
for
underprivileged
 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
Technology
incl.
uses
best
scientific
of
use
the
Agricultural
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