MULTAN, May 12: The high-power Agricultural Pesticides Technical Advisory Committee has decided to introduce pre-shipment examination of the imported pesticides by reputed international pre-shipment inspectors.

Sources in the federal ministry of food, agriculture and livestock said the decision had been taken at an APTAC meeting held on Thursday in Islamabad with Minfal secretary Muhammad Ismail Qureshi in chair.

They said the move was aimed at ensuring quality and standard of the imported pesticides. The system in vogue required an NOC of the department of plant protection before custom clearance of the consignment, which created a lot of problems for the importers.

They said with the introduction of pre-shipment inspection there would be no need to have the DPP’s NOC.

The committee also approved registration of some 40 new branded pesticides and decided that the listing of pesticides under form-16 (a free-for-all to import under generic name) would be brought under a swift registration regime named ‘Fast Track’. The products already registered with the DPP would be registered to the new applicants within a week under the fast track scheme, they said.

Besides the top Minfal officials, the APTAC meeting was attended by all the stakeholders, including representatives of pesticide importers and users (growers). The importers welcomed the introduction of pre-shipment inspection by the international firms and fast track system.

The meeting also expressed satisfaction over the availability of pesticides for the coming Kharif crop. The Minfal secretary, however, directed the DPP to monitor the supply and demand position of pesticides in company with the provincial governments and the importers’ associations on a fortnightly basis to ensure that there would be no shortage of pesticides.