kochi the steps taken by the ministry of agriculture government of india to ban twentyseven insecticide compounds which cause a serious health risk to human being and animals will help indian spice exports in the global market said all india spices exporters forum aisef the ministry has published the draft order titled banning of insecticides order 2020 on may 14this step is going to be a great support to build trust in indian spice industry globally and boost spice exports from india the move will also make food safer for our domestic consumers said rajiv palicha chairman all india spices exporters forumindian spice exports have grown significantly in volume and value and the net value of exports has crossed us 3 billion this year the next goal of the industry is to achieve us 5 billion by 2025 one of the major obstacles faced by the industry over the years is the nonavailability of quality raw materials our valueadded products had regularly been under the scanner and faced the threat of rejection from the importing countries due to tougher standards imposed by them and stringent monitoring of pesticides and other chemical residues at the destination he saidthe processing industry and exporters have been managing this risk through backward integration programmes with farmers adopting villages in the case of chillies and cumin and conducting national sustainable spice programmes in conjunction with the spices board the industry has always felt that these exportoriented awareness programmes are simply not enough to eliminate the use of cheap high residual toxicity pesticides promoted unscientifically the contaminated produce carrying pesticide residues which are carcinogenic endocrinedisrupting or otherwise hazardous would then inevitably reach the domestic market posing serious public health issues the media statement from aisef said while the government ban on 27 insecticide compounds is a most welcome step it is equally important that retail outlets are strictly monitored so that the banned pesticides are truly unavailable and a sense of discipline and control is brought about within the farmer community aisef stated many of the pesticides listed in the draft bill are already banned by the european union but several more on the banned list are still permitted for use in india palicha said keeping in pace with the global approach to the use of pesticides we need to swiftly update and harmonise our pesticide standards with international standards for the health of our citizens and also to ensure smooth export flows he said aisef has submitted to the ministry an additional list of 24 hazardous pesticides affecting health and impeding exports from india and has requested a similar ban on those chemicals too