FAO India held a National Consultation on Child Project for “Highly Hazardous Pesticides use in Agriculture and strategy to combat its residual impact” under the GEF 7 - Agriculture Chemicals Programme on 28May, 2019. FAO is in consultation with the GEF Secretariat is in the process of designing a global project on agriculture chemicals, for the replacement of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) used in the global food supply chain, besides disposal of obsolete pesticides and elimination of contaminated plastics used in agriculture. India is one of the countries identified for a child project. The consultation successful brought stakeholders from various fields together to discuss issues and perspectives on agricultural pesticide use in the country. It provided insight into the existing institutional frameworks and policy initiatives, as well as problems of issues such as sale of spurious pesticides and lack of awareness among farmers, leading to misuse and abuse of pesticides.

Dr. S K Malhotra, Agriculture Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India chaired the consultation. The meeting had participants from various Government Ministries and bodies as well as civil society organizations and the private sector. Participants from the government included the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, Directorate of Plant Protection, Storage and Quarantine, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, and National Centre for Organic Farming.  Representation from civil society and private sector included The Energy and Research Institute, Centre for Science and Environment, Toxics Link, Bharat Krishak Samaj and Indian Chemical Council.