REPORT ON
PESTICIDE USAGE
ADVERSE IMPACTS IN PAKISTAN

Prepared by

Dr. Mirza Arshad Ali Beg

Research & Development Consultants

136-C, Rafahe Aam Housing Society

Malir Halt

Karachi-75210

Pakistan

March 07, 2004


REPORT ON PESTICIDE USAGE & ADVERSE IMPACTS IN PAKISTAN

This short term study on Reduction of Pesticide usage was carried out against a grant provided by Global Greengrants Fund to achieve its following objectives:

To make the farmers as well as the authorities concerned, hereafter called managers of pesticide usage and trade

(a)  conscious of the ill effects of chemical pesticides and about the hazards of the present marketing system that allows sale and use of spurious pesticides,

(b)  agree to reduce the dependence on chemical pesticides and to prepare them to switch over to alternatives, and

(c)  consider adopting measures and alternative distribution systems for quality controlled and regulated products available in the market.

The following activities were initiated to achieve the above objectives:

(1) Collecting and generating field data on status of management of pesticide usage, and on the impact of prevailing practices of pesticide usage on the environment, through interactions with policy makers and end users,

(2) Identifying the sources of negative impact owing to the use of authentic and spurious pesticides and analyzing the field data to assess the magnitude of damages done to the physical and human environment

(3) Contributing to the (present half-hearted) efforts to reduce the dependence on chemical pesticides and to the integrated pest management IPM system by apprising the farmers as well as managers of pesticide usage and trade, particularly the Extension Services of the Agriculture Departments of the impact of pesticides on the environment, and about the availability of different alternatives, and

(4) Documentation of the findings and publication of the document for wide circulation to highlight the damages done to the environment in general and health of the concerned population in particular, and the benefits that can possibly be achieved through reduction of dependence on chemical pesticides and adoption of the use of alternative methods.

Field visits and interviews with officials and stakeholders as well as surveys and data collected confirmed the earlier findings that the scenario of availability of pesticides and their use in Pakistan has been complicated by the wide-ranging mismanagement of the market forces. This has resulted in the overuse and misuse of pesticides that has led to resistance among target pests. Mismanagement of pesticide trade and mode of application has rendered the problem of high toxicity of pesticides, which is of great concern in the producing countries of the west, into a non-issue. The findings of the surveys and interviews confirm that no lesson has been learnt from the damages done to the health of people in the industrialized countries. No one, including those in authority, seems to care about the non-sustainable use of pesticides that can do immense damage to the present as well as future generations and about the impact of their reported chronic toxicity that would emerge in less than five to ten years as has happened in the industrialized countries of the west.

Meetings and field surveys have identified a few success stories on integrated pest management introduced in the sugarcane crop which, according to the claims, is not using any pesticides. The findings from the field, however, support the claims only partially. Documentation and compilation of the data collected and generated during meetings, surveys and field trips as well as the seminar at Pakistan Association of Scientists and Scientific Professionals have been of great help in disseminating this information. The findings were published in serialized articles in Ummat, a widely circulated newspaper in local language, for effective dissemination of the findings.

The book Pesticide Toxicity, Specificity & Politics is in Press and likely to be launched some time towards June 2004. The book has, after describing the toxicity and specificity of the pesticides in use, argued that in view of the harm done to the living environment by their poisonous nature, their future use should be banned on the same lines as the Green House Gases. The book has made a case that pesticide usage does not benefit the crop producer or the crop; it benefits the lobby of the multinational manufacturers, who do not to discontinue their production.

The following is a brief analysis of the information and data collected during the interactions with a number of agencies, including the decision makers, operators and users. Those visited in this connection were the following: Pakistan Agriculture Research Council, Islamabad; Pakistan Agriculture Research Centre, Islamabad; Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad: Plant Protection Department, Government of Pakistan, Karachi, Directorate of Plant Protection, Sindh, Hyderabad; EDO, Agriculture Sindh, Hyderabad, Directorate of Agriculture Government of Punjab, Multan, Pest Warning and Quality Control of Pesticides, PWQCP Centre, Multan; Agriculture University Peshawar, Dr Iftikhar Ahmed IPM Programme Coordinator, Islamabad; Library of Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, MINFAL; Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, Karachi; Cotton Research Institute, Multan; and WWF, Lahore.


1. Findings on Status of Management of Pesticide Usage & Impact of Prevailing Practices of Pesticide Usage on Environment

Information Related to Quality of Pesticides: Project proposal had envisaged collection of field data related to movement of authentic and unauthentic pesticides into the market and over to the field to know where and at what stage the authentic material becomes unauthentic. It has been found during the several interactive meetings that the movement of unauthentic and spurious pesticides into the market is maneuvered by pressure groups that have emerged as a result of the pesticide industry suddenly becoming big business. The pressure groups owe their presence to the peculiar marketing forces the type of which was not unfamiliar in Pakistan.

Pesticide trade became a highly profitable business in mid-1980s. The volume of pesticide consumption increased from 727 tons in 1957-58 to 8,860 tons in 1982-83. By this time the ill-effects of pesticide consumption had already surfaced up and the organochlorines had been banned and/or were being phased out. Consumption of other pesticides was, however, being vigorously promoted by the manufacturers in industrialized countries. This was the time when their import, sale, and marketing in Pakistan were all transferred from the public sector to the private sector. Their consumption jumped to 15,765 in 1987-88 and escalated thereafter to over 44,000 tons worth over Rs 14 billion. The country has no manufacturing capacity of its own and hence the entire quantity is being imported from almost all manufacturing countries of the world, including India, which is the fourth largest producer of pesticides in the world and whose pesticide manufacturers claim to be supplying at least 60% of the requirement of the agriculture sector in Pakistan.

Branded pesticides, according to information provided by officials of Plant Protection Department Government of Pakistan, dominated the pesticides market during the 1980-90 period. Their trade was governed almost exclusively by MNCs. Pesticides were quality controlled, and farmers were provided training/information about proper use of branded pesticides. Trade in pesticides thus turned out to be money-spinning business like the pharmaceuticals by the mid-1980s. Corrupt forces in Pakistan cashed this opportunity and succeeded in persuading the governing hierarchy in 1991 to amend the 1971 Ordinance to (i) introduce the generic scheme of registration of pesticides and (ii) allow the import of pesticides without going through the local registration process, if they were already registered in some other country. The amendment had catastrophic effect on the discipline in the pesticide market. Cheap pesticides from non-conventional sources soon became available and triggered a mushroom growth of pesticide companies. Import of pesticides increased from 14,434 tons in 1992-93 to 21,776 tons in 1994-95 and accelerated thereafter to the present volume of over 44,000 tons. Based on consumption data, it is estimated that application by an average farmer has increased from 0.2kg per hectare to 10.6 kg per hectare.

This proliferation in import not only pronounced a big market for the corrupt marketing practices but also an overall deterioration in the quality of pesticides and some long-term highly detrimental effects on the agricultural as well as social sector in Pakistan. The country became and continues to remain the dumping ground for old pesticide products. Formulators of pesticide products have been enjoying the freedom to import pesticides from anywhere and that includes India. Since India is not so far among the most favoured nations for trade and commerce, importers resorted to third country imports and also smuggling.

According to information from the University of Agriculture, Peshawar there are about 600 pesticide formulations being traded in the country. These formulations contain the active ingredients in different proportions. The information obtained from Islamabad offices suggests that the formulation capacity is now in the hands of 19 manufacturers, seven of them being MNCs that account for 50% of total manufacture. There are 230 pesticides firms working in the country, 80% of which operate in Punjab. This province has a large agricultural area, a large proportion of which is held by landlords. The latter are reported to be importing their pesticides and fertilizer requirements, but they sell a large part to the vendors. There are hundreds of pesticide dealers e.g. there are over 900 authorized dealers in NWFP who keep the stocks of pesticides in their own depots. The authorized dealers have been given necessary training before opening shops to minimise the risk factor attached with the business. Much of the deterioration in quality of pesticides is nevertheless said to occur at the importer-stockist-vendor-dealer stages.

There are according to the same sources some 600 pesticides being marketed by multinational pharmaceutical firms, and all of these potentially toxic chemicals are of utmost importance in protecting crops and stored grain from insects. However, farmers hold their own opinion that pesticides are sold by unregistered shopkeepers also who are accessible to the common man since there is no mechanism to monitor the sale of these chemicals in the market. Many cases of suicide are reported from taking aluminum phosphide tablets which are easily available at the drug stores.


With the introduction of local government system in the country, the respective assistant directors of agricultural extension department at district-level have been delegated the power to issue licenses to the people dealing in pesticides, and to monitor their sale. But the sale is still going unchecked, and reports emanating from remote parts of the province suggest that many people die owing to misuse of pesticides.

Smuggling, according to information available with the Plant Protection Department and also some of the dealers who were interviewed in Punjab, is an important source of low quality pesticides. This may be true since smuggled pesticides are usually technical grade products i.e. they are likely to contain unknown quantities of impurities, some of which may be extremely toxic. One of the dealers in Punjab showed a bottle with its bilingual label in Persian and English. The date mark showed it was outdated, its guarantee expired two years back. The dealer was offering no guarantee: have it or leave it! The farmer who was shown the bottle was very desperate since he had applied the pesticides six times already without having any effect on the army worm.

Pesticide trade, because of its large volume, has also attracted the attention of operators of parallel economy and it was reported in one of the interactions with the Directorate of Plant Protection Sindh, Hyderabad that when a police party raided a private factory in a town in Digri Taluka, Sindh, near the border with India in July, 2002, it recovered a huge quantity of spurious pesticides, a truck containing fine sand, a drum, 50 bags containing granules, seven bags of Indian chemicals, and an electric sewing machine. The factory was said to have been in operation for quite some time. There are, it is claimed, several such factories in Punjab but they are protected by the network operated by the pressure groups.

The process of adulteration takes different forms. Plant Protection Department in Lahore informed during the interviews that it had in June 2002, presented a brief to the Governor of Punjab wherein it was stated that six units, two in Karachi and four in the Punjab, were making pesticides by mixing their active ingredients with emulsifiers and kerosene oil, instead of the recommended solvents. It was also found that certain producers were mixing active ingredients in lower than recommended quantities to make more profit. This according to the Department officials produced ineffective pesticides. It was further stated in the interview that adulteration had also been detected at the level of refilling and bottling of readymade patent pesticides at local level. This activity was widespread in the unorganized sector which was playing the most dishonest role, making spurious pesticides at hidden factories at private places. These products were sold mainly to the unsuspecting farmers for a price that was within their reach.

Other sources have also suggested that the observed deterioration in quality of pesticides took a slide after their marketing was decentralized in 1991 to the level of dealers. No control could under the circumstances be exercised on the quality of materials offered. All companies, which were previously offering branded pesticides and were also offering awareness and training courses, stopped doing so thereafter. The farmers were left to their fate. Pesticides are being sold as commodity products without providing corresponding technical backup and after-sale service to the farmers.

It was claimed by Sindh Agriculture Extension Project, that in May 2002, it initiated the checking of adulteration in pesticides. The Directorate of Plant Protection, Sindh, had drawn 618 samples of pesticides from various parts of the province during 2001 for analysis at its two pesticides quality control laboratories at Hyderabad and Rohri. 71 of these pesticides samples were found sub-standard and unfit. Cases against the culprits were under process in courts but the culprits were not convicted. Similarly, during the first four months of 2002, the Directorate drew 113 pesticide samples, 56 were analyzed, two were found unfit. The pesticides laboratories at Hyderabad and Rohri had been strengthened and fully equipped with modern technologies to accelerate the process of pesticide analysis. The field officers of the agriculture extension, who were pesticide inspectors, had been directed to expedite the legal process so that culprits do get convicted and punished.