Syngenta India launches initiative to train farmers in safe pesticide spraying

4 yrs back, a couple of farmers died because of to accidental inhalation of pesticides though spraying on their crops in Maharashtra. Most of them hailed from the Yavatmal district.

Law enforcement data obtained below the Legal rights to Data Act exposed that 22 farmers dropped their lives that calendar year and about three hundred have been afflicted by pesticide poisoning.

“One of the key problems that led to the regrettable pesticide publicity incident in 2017 in Yavatmal was the indiscriminate mixing of chemical compounds and absence of ample safeguards though spraying pesticide on the crops,” says KC Ravi, Main Sustainability Officer, Syngenta India, an arm of Switzerland-primarily based agricultural science and technological innovation major Syngenta.

Lack of precaution

The trouble arose simply because growers cultivated illegal genetically modified (GM) cotton, and personnel spraying pesticides on the farms did not take ample safeguards. The problem was aggravated by an erratic monsoon that was adopted by pest assaults.

According to Ravi, the cotton plants grew to abnormal heights, and the farmworkers did not use individual protection products (PPE) kits, including gloves and masks, to spray the pesticides.

“Also, medical practitioners have been not equipped to diagnose and take care of the afflicted,” he says.

It is in this article that Syngenta obtained into the act, by first trying to locate out how to support the Yavatmal district administration. “We began a cellular clinic to take care of those uncovered to pesticide,” says Ravi.

Building medical practitioners mindful

Then, the Indian arm of the Swiss farm began an awareness programme for medical practitioners by bringing in a toxicologist. The business also began producing obtainable individual protection products (PPE) kits for those spraying pesticides.

Syngenta then went about plugging the loopholes in pesticide spraying by first coaching farmers. “It is an crucial tactic to teach and counsel the farmers. The Syngenta staff spends 15 minutes at the beginning of each and every farmer conference to teach the growers on harmless use practice,” Ravi says.

Syngenta has come up with five golden rules, including knowledge the solution, doing exercises caution and using appropriate PPE kits, for harmless use of crop protection approaches, in addition to a harmless spraying initiative. Now, it has introduced an initiative to teach ten,000 farmers below its Inculcating Safety Awareness for Farmer Empowerment (I-Harmless) programme.

Equipping growers

“I-Harmless is a first-of-its-kind initiative to instil among the Yavatmal farmer’s awareness on overall health and security and equipping them with tools and approaches,” he says.

A element of the I-Harmless programme is a Spraymen Entrepreneur programme. “We began a skilled agri entrepreneurship programme to get ready skilled spraymen, who offer their solutions to farmers for spraying,” the Syngenta formal claimed.

The firm’s committed software technological innovation coaching programmes for farmers provides specialized know-how on rising spray efficiency though lowering chemical losses. It also trains users to repair service and sustain the spray products.

Zero fatalities

According to Aashish Umeshrao Moghe, a Yavatmal farmer who has received harmless spraying coaching, growers are now defined the added benefits of putting on gloves, goggles and other security gear as element of the PPE kit and conserving lives.

Syngenta’s initiative has been going on for the last 4 yrs in Mangrul village of Yavatmal and Akshay Prakash Lonkar, a resident, says there is a increase in the quantity of protecting kits becoming made use of by farmers.

The start of the I-Harmless programme has now viewed Syngenta becoming specified as the nodal agency in Yavatmal and Osmanabad districts to ensure the harmless spraying of pesticides. Over the last 3 yrs, “we have ensured that there are zero fatalities doing work with district administrations,” says Ravi.

‘Gulabi’ marketing campaign

Syngenta, which has protected seven.forty eight million growers, including 2.5 tiny farm holders, in between 2014 to 2019, has supplied intensive coaching to very a couple of farmers and spray guys, who in transform are coaching other folks. Primarily based on its project’s achievements, the Maharashtra federal government has questioned the business to share its expertise with administrative officers of other districts.

The Swiss firm’s Indian arm has set up a product cotton farm and introduced a “Gulabi” marketing campaign to tackle the pink bollworm pest in the crop. “We have trained farmers in suitable farming approaches, including location up pheromone traps to weed out the pests. We are sharing our best ordeals with them,” says Ravi.

Ramesh Seshrav Gujjalwar, who has benefitted from the PPE kits and coaching, says some growers like him made use of to chew tobacco or be intoxicated though spraying pesticide unprotected. “We now have recognized the great importance of protection though spraying and the kits shield us from all this sort of harms,” he says.

These days, Syngenta’s I-Harmless programme has come to be a harmless spraying initiative in rural locations. It is encouraging farmers reduce the risks of publicity by awareness coaching and distribution of PPE kits in collaboration with Gramin Samasya Mukti Belief.