CropLife India, an industry body representing 17 leading crop protection companies, has urged the government to move quickly to address what it describes as a “narrow pool” of crop protection solutions currently available to Indian farmers.
According to the industry body, Indian farmers have access to around 380 active ingredients (AIs), compared with about 1,200 active ingredients available to farmers globally.
CropLife India has proposed a two-pronged approach to expand the availability of crop protection technologies while ensuring science-based regulation. It has called for any restrictions on existing crop protection molecules to be based strictly on established scientific literature, including contextual safety, health and efficacy data, while also assessing the impact of such restrictions on farmers.
The industry body has also proposed introducing Regulatory Data Protection (RDP) for five years within India’s regulatory framework. RDP would protect the regulatory data that companies are required to generate to register new crop protection products in the country.
CropLife India said such protection would encourage investment in the development and introduction of newer technologies and expand the range of solutions available to farmers. It said the regulatory data includes safety, health and efficacy studies conducted under Indian conditions.
“Factors such as El Nino and climate change are making pest pressures even more dynamic and troublesome for farmers. Therefore, there is a pressing need to install a robust framework that allows the entry of better science, innovation and technology-backed products, which can help farmers address these evolving pest dynamics,” said Rahul Dhanuka, Managing Director, Dhanuka Agritech Ltd.
Industry Seeks Global Regulatory Alignment
CropLife India said the absence of RDP in India could discourage investment in new crop protection technologies because of concerns over the unfair use or copying of regulatory data.
Mohan Babu Boppana, Vice Chairman of CropLife India and COO of Bayer CropScience Ltd, said a time-bound RDP regime has helped foster innovation and competition in other countries. The EU, for instance, provides up to 13 years of protection to incentivise the registration of green molecules.
He added that India could benefit from aligning its regulatory framework with global practices, expanding farmers’ choice of crop protection products and reducing reliance on a limited number of options.
Pest Losses and Export Requirements
The industry body said Indian farmers lose around 10–35% of their crops annually due to pests and diseases, amounting to about Rs. 2 lakh crore in losses each year.
“There is a need for a holistic framework to refresh and expand the crop protection solutions available to Indian farmers, backed by robust, science-based regulatory guardrails,” said Giridhar Ranuva, Business Director, BASF Agricultural Solutions, India. Ranuva said a time-bound RDP framework could incentivise the introduction of newer technologies, helping farmers protect crops from pest-related losses and strengthen farm productivity and incomes.
CropLife India also said the case for RDP has become more pressing as regulatory requirements in high-value export markets, particularly the European Union, become more stringent. It highlighted tighter maximum residue limits for several existing crop protection molecules.
Alongside RDP, CropLife India has called for tighter regulation of the sale of crop protection products through e-commerce platforms. It has proposed licensing requirements and digital traceability for online sales to help prevent the sale of unauthorised crop protection products.