According to CS Liew, CEO of Pacific Agriscience, the Indian government is encouraging more food production and exports, which is a good omen for the growth in the consumption of agrochemicals, both fertilizers and pesticides. He wrote an article that was originally published on the foreign portal agropages.com.

"The application of pesticides per hectare in India is very low compared to other agricultural producers. For example, China uses 13 kg/ha while India uses about 0.5 kg/hectare. Not only is consumption per unit area very low, but the pesticide choices of Indian farmers are also quite limited, with only 300 molecules registered in India, compared to more than 950 in China, more than 800 in the US and the world total of 1,175 molecules registered for use", he says. 

From now on, many other manufacturers of technical grade pesticides are expected to enter the market. "With this strong mindset and solid investment, some of these great players are definitely getting the integration back, though only in the production of some molecules. They have also invested heavily in new and more sophisticated production plants, to produce not only the oldest molecules, but also the newer ones that have recently come out of patent, and are preparing for those that will come out of patent in the coming years", he adds.

Despite the serious challenges in reaching India's small farms and relatively uneducated farmers, many companies on the side of the equation's insums are offering products and services from agtech. "In the last decade, only farmers on an industrial scale in the developed world have benefited from agtech, which leads to precision agriculture as well as greater efficiencies. They have left the poor and small farmers of the developing world even further behind," he says.

"The need and opportunities to bring agtech to Indian farmers, investments from new and old suppliers, are shifting from the old models B to B to a B to C. It is by no means a change overnight. It's in the early stages and it's evolving. It is certainly heartening to see small Indian farmers getting so much attention and finally benefiting from agtech, both in terms of products and services. Perhaps a win-win situation will finally prevail in the Indian agricultural landscape," he concludes.

Source: Agrolink