Rice exporters have requested the government to issue guidelines making it mandatory for pesticide manufacturers to provide an advisory when selling their products.
"We request you to kindly issue strict guidelines to manufactures of pesticides that while selling their products, they should ensure that every package of the chemicals is accompanied by an advisory in a local language," All-India Rice Exporters Association President Vijay Kumar Setia said in a letter to the Agriculture Ministry.
The pesticide manufacturers must provide an advisory in the local language along with their product, giving correct and complete information to farmers about the quantity, recommended crops, method of application and the right time of use during the crop cycle, Setia said.
He said the European Union has already banned the import of honey from India on account of excess pesticide content, which resulted in a revenue loss of more than Rs 2,000 crore.
The rice exporters' plea to the government comes on the heels of recent reports that pesticides have been found in Indian rice exports.
Sethia said a German lab recently came out with a report which said that rice exported from India has more than the prescribed level of pesticide residue.
While the report was successfully challenged by the Indian exporters, they have decided to take some precautionary steps so that no such problem arises in future, he said.
"This will help in controlling pesticide residue issues to a large extent and also help the farmers in getting higher yields of better quality produce, Sethia said.
At present, India exports around three million tonnes of basmati rice annually to Europe, the US and West Asia.