The Union agriculture ministry has issued a show-cause notice to Makhteshim Agan India, the Indian arm of Makhteshim Agan (MA), a leading crop protection solutions company based in Israel, for "variance" in data of field evaluation studies commissioned by it. The studies were aimed at securing an approval to import a particular herbicide.
If the company failed to reply to the notice, its import approval could be revoked, the notice said.
The agriculture department has raised the matter with the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (BCKV) in West Bengal, under whose guidance the studies were conducted. Based on these, the company was granted registration to import imazethapyr technical (a herbicide). The agriculture department has also urged BKCV to take action against its principal investigator (responsible for conducting the studies) on grounds of professional impropriety.
Yossi Goldschmidt, president and chief executive of Makhteshim Agan India, told Business Standard the company had received a show-cause notice from the agriculture ministry. The notice was being examined by the company's legal team, he said, adding since June 2012, the company had sold about 5,00,000 litres of imazethapyr technical to thousands of farmers, and had received positive feedback.
"MA India has received the registration according to law; the company always follows all rules and regulation. There is no question of any malpractice in granting a licence to MA India for registration of imazethapyr technical. The entire issue has arisen due to confusion about the dates of field trials," Goldschmidt said. He added before securing an approval by the insecticide board, the company had provided relevant papers and the authorities had carried out due diligence. "Makhteshim Agan does not believe in breaking the norms in India or elsewhere," he said. The company has an annual turnover of $3 billion and sales in more than 120 countries.
Officials said the notice had been issued after data provided by the company showed discrepancies. It wasn't just a typographical error, as was being claimed, they added.
Agriculture department officials said any company that planned to sell an imported herbicide, pesticide or other plant chemicals had to secure a permit to import a sample of the chemical. Once the permit is secured, companies provide the sample to recognised institutions to conduct evaluation studies through two seasons for the crop it is to be used for.
Once the studies provide sufficient data, the company has to approach the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee to register the chemical.
In the case of Makhteshim Agan, the insecticide board found anomalies in the date of sample import and the year of the field trials.
Also, there were allegations the company had sought to carry out evaluation studies before it secured the permit. The board had appointed a two-member committee to probe these allegations.
BKCV claimed there was a typographical error in the report. It added the evaluation studies were carried out in 2009 and 2010, not in 2008 and 2009, as was stated. After BCKV's explanations, imazethapyr technical was registered.
However, the agriculture department received various complaints, after which it conducted an investigation that showed significant discrepancies in the BCKV data. These related to the field studies conducted in 2008 and 2010.
