Role of Agrochemicals in addressing Food security challenges

Rajnish Sarna, Joint Managing Director, PI Industries,  in interaction with Industry Outlook shares his views on how the agrochemical industry is solving various challenges in food production and how the industry will evolve.

Many microbial formulations have limited shelf life, remaining viable for only weeks to a few months, even in highly controlled cold storage conditions. However, for widespread global use, there is a need for stable formulations for one to two years. How can this be achieved?

There is significant progress in developing newer formulations. Nowadays, they are trying to use many natural and water-soluble polymer-based carriers to protect the micro-organism and provide more stability. Hence, a lot of natural water-soluble polymers are being introduced.

People nowadays are also using lightweight carriers. There are some nanofiber technologies as well. With the advent of these new technologies, the diversity and the quality of formulation, and the weight of formulations,  all are undergoing significant changes, and much effort in research is happening in this direction.

Many times, agrochemical formulations created for one part of the world may be ineffective in another part and changes to a formulation are also needed to optimize performance for different climate conditions and soil chemistry or ensure that it will be effective for the specific crop pests, weeds, and pathogens found in the region. How do you propose to solve this problem?

Yes, one product or formulation being used in one region may not be as effective in the other region, and one of the key reasons for this is the pathogens. Even if you look at the soil composition in different parts of the geography and even within India, you will find that the composition of the soil, the pH of the soil, and other conditions are different from north to south or east to west. In different countries, you may have different compositions, and the soil conditions will be completely different, which has a significant bearing on the efficacy of a particular formulation. So, yes, there are differences.

People now study the soil composition before finalizing a particular area or geography formulation. They are looking at collecting information about the soil composition in different geographies to understand what kind of products and formulations are working in those geographical conditions. Therefore, many of these things are studied in advance before deciding on specific surfactants, adjuvants, or polymers used in the formulation. So, this is how one decides on a particular formulation.

How do you see the agrochemical market evolving in the future?

Looking at the rising population in the world and even in India in the next 2-3 decades, shrinking arable land, rise in high age/non-working population, etc, food security challenges will significantly increase. Therefore, the role of Agri inputs, including Agrochemicals, will be immense.

Although there are many debates and discussions around organic farming, bio solutions, etc., none of these are feasible solutions to achieve desirable farm productivity to feed the rising population. Therefore, the role of Agrochemicals and other Agri inputs is here to stay and only expected to increase further.