Pulsor can help realise potential of 100% output: Rajesh Aggarwal

Interview with MD, Insecticides (India)

Insecticides (India) Ltd has introduced India’s first fungicide, Pulsor, brought out in an exclusive tie-up with Nissan Chemicals of Japan, and is a dual-purpose brand. On more about its efficacy, Rajesh Aggarwal, managing director of Insecticides (India), talks to Dilip Kumar Jha. Edited excerpts:

How affective is Pulsor? How do you compare it with the existing fungicides in India?
This is an international product, manufactured on Japanese technology. Pulsor is is used for both preventive as well as curative purposes; it is very effective for control of sheath blight. India’s existing fungicide brands are largely used for curative purposes — that is, when paddy plants are almost damaged. This results in very low output. Using Pulsor can fully protect the paddy plant. It ensures realising the potential of 100 per cent output, unless, of course, if the plant is infected with other diseases.

India is a major producer of fungicides. Why do we need import?
It is correct, but we are a major producer of generics. Even Thiafluzamide is manufactured in India for the international requirement as per the Japanese technology. The annual market size of rice fungicide is Rs 800 crore in India. Of this, sheath blight on rice contributes to around Rs 200 crore. It is increasing at a fast pace. We would be instrumental in providing the international technology to Indian farmers.

Does it make economic sense for the Indian farmer to use Pulsor versus other existing brands?
Yes. The dosage of Pulsor is only 150 ml per acre as compared to between 500-600 ml of the Indian generic brand fungicides. Farmers can save up to 50 per cent by using Pulsor due to its double-purpose use (of prevention and cure). Also, its single use can offer peace of mind and yield 100 per cent of output, unless plants get infected with other diseases, as compared to the existing generic brands for multiple uses. If plants getting infected with sheath blight, it leads to loss of output. Per single use, however, the cost of Pulsor comes to around Rs 375 per acre, as compared to between Rs 200 and 300 per acre of Indian generic brands -- and even higher of specialty fungicide brands.

You launched Pulsor in Maharashtra. Any plan to expand it across the country?
The product has a huge market in India, especially for paddy-growing states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, besides Maharashtra. So we plan to tap potential markets across the country in the months to come.

Is it an exclusive tie-up with Nissan Chemicals?
Yes. It is a trade tie-up where we will be exclusively marketing this product in India.

What is your forecast for growth of fungicides in India?
Fungicides in India have a good potential; they are expected to grow at a steady rate. The usage is going to multiply with increase in farmer income and awareness. Against the world average of 20 per cent of all agro chemicals used for plant protection and thereby productivity enhancement, India’s average stands at just 8 per cent fungicide of our total market size.

How do you compare the premium on organic food versus, cost incurred on control of pests and herbs to raise output?
This is a debatable issue. I would just like to mention that if we talk of commercial farming, the use of agro chemicals is inevitable. The common man in a country like India, where the majority is still struggling with two meals a day, can never afford the cost of organic stuff. If we convert the inorganic areas into organic zones, the yield will come down drastically — and we may be forced to import food.

Looking forward, what is the way to ensure growing acceptance of organic foodgrains?
Progressive cultivation is impossible without pesticides. When your child catches fever, you don’t go to a homeopath or an Ayurvedic or a yoga practitioner. You go to an allopathic doctor. So, why this double standards for the farmer? Is the crop not like one’s child? Does the farmer not have right to save it? The entire western world is using agro chemicals in much larger volumes. Now, the chemistry is changing and the new products are greener than the older ones.