MONITORING OF PESTICIDE RESIDUES AT NATIONAL
LEVEL (MPRNL)
The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture is
regularly
monitoring
the
pesticide
residues
in
food
commodities
and
environmental samples under the central sector scheme, “Monitoring of
Pesticide Residues at National Level”. The scheme was initiated during 2005-06
with the participation of various laboratories representing Ministry of
Agriculture, Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research, Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizer, Ministry of Commerce
and State Agricultural Universities across the country.
The scheme involves monitoring and analysis of pesticide residues in
agricultural commodities in different agro-ecological regions of the country to
address the concerns for food safety and impact of pesticides on India’s food
and agricultural trade.
Program & Scheme :
The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture
has started a Central Sector Scheme, “Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at
National Level” in food commodities and environmental samples during 200506 with the participation of various laboratories representing Ministry of
Agriculture, Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research, Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizer, Ministry of Commerce
and State Agricultural Universities across the country. The scheme is on-going
with the participation of 22 (twenty two) laboratories all over the country. Five
of these have been designated as core laboratories to provide technical
guidance and support to the associated laboratories in each zone. As per the
approved technical programme during the annual workshop of the scheme, the
participating laboratories collect the food commodities samples from various
Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) markets and Public
Distribution System (PDS), irrigated water and soil samples from intensive
agricultural fields across various parts of the country and analyze them for
pesticides residues. Since October 2006, the participating laboratories have
monitored pesticide residues in various food commodities such as vegetables,
fruits, cereals, spices, pulses, milk, animal feed, fish, meat, tea, honey, dry
fruits, egg, soil and water.
The central sector scheme is monitored by two committees, namely, Steering
Committee and Technical Committee. The policy decisions related to the
scheme are under the preview of the Steering Committee headed by the Joint
Secretary (Plant Protection), Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC)
while the Technical Committee, headed by the Assistant Director General (Plant
Protection), Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) takes care of the
technical issues related to the scheme. The Project Coordinating Cell of AINP
on Pesticide Residues is the nodal centre for implementation of the scheme.
The Network Coordinator, All India Network Project on Pesticide Residues, IARI,
New Delhi is the Member Secretary of the scheme and is the nodal person for
the day to day implementation of the scheme related to financial and technical
matters and submission of monthly report, annual report and need based
information to the DAC.
The main objectives of the scheme include:

To test pesticide residues and other contaminants in food commodities
and environmental samples like soil and water

To identify crops and regions having preponderance of pesticide residues
in order to focus extension efforts for Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
and Good Agriculture Practices (GAP)

To strengthen infrastructure at Quarantine stations to prevent entry of
food and food commodities which have pesticide residues above
maximum residue limit (MRL).

Testing / Certification of pesticide residue in
export / import
consignments
Targets & Achievements
Financial Target: The total expenditure incurred under the Scheme during the
period from October, 2006 to March, 2012 is 41.54 crore upto March 2012.
Physical Target: During October, 2006 to March, 2012 a total of 67,992
samples of the various food commodities such as vegetables, fruits, cereals,
spices, pulses, milk, butter, fish, meat, tea, honey etc. and environmental
samples like soil and water were collected across various parts of the
country analyzed for the presence of possible pesticide residues. Pesticide
residues were detected in 6281 (9.2%) samples and out of which 1051
(1.5%) samples were found to contain residues above their Prevention of
Food Adulteration (PFA) / Codex notified Maximum Residue Limit (MRL)
limit.
Status of Pesticide Residues in different Food Commodities and
Environmental Samples (October, 2006-March, 2012)
Duration
Oct,06-March,07
April,07-March,08
April,08-March,09
April,09-March,10
April,10-March,11
April, 11– March,12
TOTAL
Sample analyzed
1061
7089
13348
14225
15321
16948
67992
S.No
Commodity
1.
2.
3.
Vegetables
Water
Fish/crustacean/meat/e
gg
Fruits
Rice
Wheat
Milk
Butter
Spices
Tea
Honey
TOTAL
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Private
NABL
accredite
d labs
Pesticide/
Aflatoxins/
Heavy Metals/ Antibiotic
Residues
in
food
commodities
and
environmental samples
GRAND TOTAL
2007
-08
2529
1643
859
200809
4368
3564
1440
200910
4748
3624
1480
201011
5128
3684
1520
471
133
151
126
122
80
43
15
6172
1980
876
792
612
612
540
252
60
1509
6
800
1980
876
792
612
612
540
252
60
1557
6
1600
1980
876
792
612
612
540
252
60
1605
6
1700
1980
876
792
612
612
540
252
60
1653
6
1900
8391
3637
3319
2574
2570
2240
1051
255
6943
6
6000
1589
6
1717
6
1775
6
1843
6
7543
6
NIL
6172
2011- Total
12
5508 22281
3744 16259
1560
6859
Physical Target achieved during the period from 2012-13
Target no. of samples to be tested: 16,888
Total target of sample tested from April to January 2013 : 12676
Percent (%) of sample tested against Target : 12012 (94 %)
1. Attached Office :
The participating laboratories are:
1.
Project Coordinating Cell,
All India Network Project on Pesticide
Residues, LBS Building, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
2.
Dept. of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab
3.
ICAR Unit No.-9, BTRS Building, Anand Agricultural University, Anand,
Gujarat
4.
Dept. of Entomology, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri,
Maharashtra
5.
Dept.
of
Entomology,
College
of
Agriculture,
Kerala
Agricultural
University, Vellayani, Kerala
6.
Division of Soil Sci. & Agril. Chemistry, IIHR, Hessaraghatta Lake Post,
Bangalore, Karnataka
7.
Dept. of Entomology, RAU, Agricultural Research Station, Durgapura
Jaipur, Rajasthan
8.
College of Agriculture, Department of Entomology, Acharya N.G. Ranga
Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad ,Andhra Pradesh
9.
Dept. of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
10.
Institute of Pesticide Formulation Technology (IPFT), Sector – 20, Udyog
Vihar, Gurgaon, Haryana
11.
National Institute of Occupational Health, P. B. No. 2031, Meghani
Nagar, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
12.
Western Region Referral Laboratory, Department of Veterinary Public
Health, Bombay Veterinary College, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra
13.
MPEDA, MPEDA House, Panampilly Avenue, Kochi , Kerala
14.
Pesticide Toxicology Laboratory, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research,
Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Lucknow, Utter Pradesh
15.
Trace Organic Laboratory, Central Pollution Control Board, Parivesh
Bhawan, East Arjun Nagar, Delhi
16.
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg,
Nagpur, Maharashtra
17.
Regional Plant Quarantine Station, Haji Bunder Road, Sewri, Mumbai,
Maharashtra
18.
Regional Plant Quarantine Station, G.S.T. Road, Meenambakkam,
Chennai , Tamil Nadu (*)
19.
AINP on Pesticide Residues, Directorate of Research, Research Complex
Building, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal
20.
Dept. of Entomology, Dr.Y.S.P. Univ. of Horticulture & Forestry, Nauni,
Solan, Himachal Pradesh
21.
National Plant Quarantine Station, Rangpuri, New Delhi
22.
National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM) , Hyderabad
(*) CARI, Port Blair (The samples from CARI are analyzed at RPQS,
Chennai)
2. Publications :
Circulations : Minutes of the technical Committee held on 26.12.2012 are attached
Minutes of the 24th Meeting of the Technical Committee of the central sector
scheme, “Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level” held on 26.12.2012
at 2.30 p.m.in the ICAR Committee Room No. 2, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi
The 24thmeeting of the Technical Committee (TC) was held at 2.30 P.M. on 26 th
December, 2012 under the Chairmanship of Dr. T. P. Rajendran, Chairman, Technical
Committee and Assistant Director General (Plant Protection), ICAR for the Central
Sector Scheme “Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level” held ICAR
Committee Room, KrishiBhawan, New Delhi. The list of participants is annexed as
Annexure-I. Dr.Dheer Singh, ADG (PFA), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
NirmanBhawanand Dr.S.K.Saxena, Director, EICcould not attend the meeting.
At the outset, Chairperson welcomed the participants. Member Secretary presented
the Action Taken Report (ATR) of the 23rd meeting of the Technical committee.
The following points were taken up for discussion:
Progress of the scheme
During the period of April 2011 to March 2012, 16,948 samples of vegetable, fruits,
spices, cereals, pulses, milk, animal feed, fish/crustacean, tea, honey, meat, egg, soil
and ground water were collected and analysed for the possible residues of organochlorine, organo-phosphorous, synthetic pyrethroids, carbamates, herbicides etc. by
21 participating laboratories. Out of these 290 (1.7%) samples were found above
maximum residue limit (MRL) as prescribed under Prevention of Food Adulteration Act
(PFA) / Food Safety Standard Authorty of India (FSSAI) of Ministry of Health and
Family welfare and CODEX.
The committee deliberated on the issue of the detection of non recommended
pesticides and decided that the soft copy of the monthly progress reports of the
monitoring scheme shall be sent to Plant Protection Advisor (PPA) every month based
on which the PPA will will take up withthe concerned State Agricultural Departments
for the required corrective action and the copy of the same may be sent to the PP
Division of DAC and Member Secretary.
The sixth annual workshop of the scheme was held on May 12, 2012 at ANGRAU,
Hyderabad. Annual report submitted to DAC and PPA. Proceedings and Technical
programme submitted to DAC and sent to participating laboratories
(Action: Member Secretary and PPA)

Supervised field trials on for non-approved pesticides
The Member Secretary informed that multilocation supervised field trials have been
initiated under AINP on Pesticide Residues on vegetables like okra, brinjal, tomato,
chilli, capsicum, cabbage, cauliflower and curry leaf for triazophos, profenophos,
acephate, ethion, cypermethrin, quinalphos and chlorpyrifos.
Action: Member Secretary, PPA / Secretary CIB& RC)

Inclusion of new technical committee members:
The Chairman approves the nomination of four new members namely
Dr.A.Madhawan, Assistant Director, FSSAI (dramadhav@gmail.com) ;Dr. Balwinder
Singh, Professor and Head, Department of Entomology, PAU, Ludhaiana, Punjab; Dr.
P.G.Shah, Residue Analyst, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat and Dr.
Hemanta Banerjee, Professor, Department of Agricultural Chemicals, BCKV,
Mohanpur, West Bengal in place of Dr. S.N.Sinha, NIN, Hyderabad and Dr. C.S.
Sharma,CPCB, Delhi

Crop Grouping
Member Secretary sent a letter to Joint Secretary (Plant Protection), DAC to speed up
the process of crop grouping. It was suggested to send a copy of this to PPA and
Secretary CIB&RC seeking the progress made in this issue.

(Action:
Fund Position (2012-13)
Member Secretary, PPA / Secretary CIB& RC)
The Member Secretary informed the committee that a sum of Rs. 3.00 crores have
been received so far as first instalment in the month of June 2012 and there is an
acute shortage of funds to run the scheme. The Chairman requested the Under
Secretary, DAC to take-up the issue with the competent authorities of DAC. Sufficient
funds must be provided to the participating laboratories for hiring of vehicle,
procurement of chemicals, maintenance of equipment’s etc.
(Action: DAC)

NABL Accreditation of participating laboratories
In spite of repeated request and reminders, some of the participating laboratories have
not obtained the NABL accreditation of pesticide residue laboratory. The Committee
recommended thatthe warning letter may be issue by the DACto these non-accredited
laboratories for getting the accreditation by April, 2013 otherwise the laboratory will
be discontinue from the scheme and withdrawal of all facilities provided under the
scheme.
(Action: Member Secretary and DAC)

Testing of food commodities and environmental samples by private NABL
accredited laboratories
The Under Secretary informed that the draft MOU for identified private laboratory is
under active consideration and will be finalised shortly.
(Action:

DAC)
Procurement of new equipment’s
The procurement of new equipment’s would be initiated after the approval of EFC
memo of the 12th five year plan. The Chairman asked the Under Secretary to send a
copy of the monitoring scheme EFC memo to the Member Secretary for inclusion of
justification of new equipment’s, contractual manpower etc., if not included in the
document.
(Action:

DAC and Member Secretary)
Inclusion of new laboratories
The Committee recommended the inclusion of EIC laboratories (per sample basis)
CIFT, Kochi (per sample basis) and RPQS, Kolkata (regular basis) for strengthening the
geographical coverage of the scheme.
(Action:
The meeting ended with the vote of thanks to the Chair.
Organization chart:
Joint secretary,
Department of Agriculture & Cooperation
Dr. K.K. Sharma, Scheme Coordinator AINP, IARI,
New Delhi
Plant Protection Adviser,
Directorate of Plant Protection,
Quarantine & Storage Storage
Deputy Directors
(NPQS/RPQS)
PPOs (Chemistry)
APPOs
Research Associates
Senior Research Fellows
DAC)
Budget and Expenditure:
Budget Status of XI Five Year Plan (2007-12) in respect of Central Sector Scheme
"Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level"
Amount (in Lakh)
Year
Opening Balance
Sanction
Remittance
Total Fund Available
Expenditure
Closing Balance
1
2
3
4 (1+3)
5
6 (4-5)
2007-08
338.86288
1000.0
840.0
1178.86288
1166.46279
12.40009
2008-09
12.40009
1000.0
959.91756
972.31765
963.53519
8.78246
2009-10
8.78246
1000.0
955.0
963.78246
917.48048
46.30198
2010-11
46.30198
1000.0
600.0
646.30198
578.29796
68.00402
2011-12
68.00402
500.0
380.0
448.00402
437.50700
10.49702
The total expenditure is Rs. 4063.28342 Lakh upto March, 2012.
Since 2011-12 the depository budget system was changed to the
budgetary system for three laboratories i.e. NPQS, New Delhi and RPQS –
Mumbai & Chennai.
The total expenditure for these three laboratories during 2011-12 is Rs.91.09
Lakh.
Hence the total expenditure incurred under the Scheme during XI Five
Year Plan is 4154.37342 Lakh upto March 2012.