Govt to evolve holistic fertiliser policy to promote use of biofertilisers

The government will set up a task force of experts to evolve a holistic fertilizer policy that would provide a national platform for farmers on the use of bio-fertilisers.

Announcing this at the 4th National Conference on Agrochemicals 2014 in New Delhi today, minister for chemicals and fertilisers Ananth Kumar said the decision to review the fertiliser policy was taken on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a recent review meeting.

Elaborating on the theme for the conference: ''Agrochemicals for Ensuring Food and Nutritional Security of the Nation'', he said the Green Revolution of 60s and 70s was not a holistic, but a truncated revolution.

Expressing serious concern at the irrational use of fertilisers in the country, he said, this could have an adverse affect for achieving a sustainable food and nutritional security for the nation.

Anantha Kumar said his ministry also proposed to recommend a ban on pesticides that are harmful to honeybees and which were earlier banned in the USA and some other countries. ''We need to follow global best practices even in such areas to make a paradigm shift for sustainable food and nutrition security by removing disturbing anomalies,'' he said.

The minister said the government has proposed to bring forward the pending Pesticides Management Bill, 2008 in the Winter Session of Parliament.

Even as the minister called for increased research and development in the field of bio-fertilisers, he said the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers is following it up with the ministry of petroleum and natural gas for allocating more gas to increase fertiliser production in the country.

The ministry, he said, is also trying to revive the sick and closed fertiliser units in the public sector.

The minister called for further development in the pesticides production, which is already the 4th largest in the world, to achieve unrealized potential of the country and to further boost exports in the sector.

In his key-note address the global president DuPont Crop Production Pvt Ltd Rik L Miller has said that innovations, investments and critical collaborations for R&D is very important in the sector. Several experts in the field are participating in the two-day National Conference.