Amway claims agri products increase yield

Amway India, the Rs 1,100 crore direct selling FMCG company, is looking at introducing more agricultural products, following encouraging research results from institutes like Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, and Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala.

According to William S Pinckney, MD and CEO, Amway India, “We went to agri universities in India and gave them our products to test on crops. These institutes have come up with research reports, which show that after using our agri products, yield has increased. We have tried it on tea, rice, coffee and on other crops.”

“We have launched ‘Apsa 80’ which have shown remarkable growth in yield for many crops. We are looking at introducing more agricultural products depending on what research by Indian institutes throw open. This will also help us understand India’s requirements and accordingly tailor-make products,” Pinckney added.

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya in West Bengal tried Apsa-80 on guava. According to its reports, application of Blitox-50, Captan, Chlorothalonil individually in combination with Apsa-80 showed better disease control on all three types of diseases which resulted in 1 kg, 1.5 kg and 2 kg increase per plant respectively, and 10 per cent, 8.8 per cent and 6.4 per cent increase in chlorophyll content in leaf respectively.

Likewise, Kerala Agricultural University conducted tests on banana and coffee crops. The university pointed out that application of Carbenzadim in combination with Apsa-80 showed a 6.5 per cent reduction of leaf spot infection over the application of insecticide alone, which resulted in nine per cent increase in yield in bunch weight.

Also, application of chlorpyriphos in combination with Apsa-80 showed 100 per cent and 50 per cent reduction respectively of Pseudo Stem Borer attack after six months and during harvest over the application of insecticides only. This resulted in a 23 per cent increase in yield in bunch weight.

For coffee, the University’s research said that aplication of carbaryl in combination with Apsa-80 showed a 52.49 per cent and 43.6 per cent reduction of mealy bug and coffee borer infestation respectively over the application of insecticide alone. As a result, there was an increase of a 46.4 per cent in the yield of coffee. Moreover, copper oxychloride sprayed in combination with Apsa-80 decreased severity of rust disease in coffee by 23.9 per cent over the use of insecticide alone. As a result, an increase of 13.33 per cent in the yield of coffee was possible, the university pointed out.