PESHAWAR, Jan 16: The federal government has formulated a law to regulate the trade of pesticides, insecticides and other agriculture inputs, sources said. “The federal government has finalised the proposed pesticides bill, which would soon be introduced in the National Assembly to make it an Act,” said an official of the agriculture department. The federal government has already concluded talks with representatives of all the provinces regarding the proposed bill, he added.

“Prices of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides are so high that small farmers cannot afford them. As a result, crop yields have registered a drastic decrease since the levy of 15 per cent general sales tax on all sorts of insecticides some four years back,” said the official.

There is no law at present to regulate the trade of pesticides and adulterated stuff is being sold at high prices, he said, adding that until now the 1973 Pesticide Ordinance is in place which falls short of expectations.

The new law would put in place a penalty of Rs3 million, coupled with a 60-month jail sentence for those found involved in adulteration. Similarly, registration of the outlet selling adulterated items would be cancelled, he said.

The official said tobacco crop production in the province had declined by more than 30 per cent because of high insecticide prices. Insecticides were vital for protecting vegetable and high-quality tobacco crops from pest attacks.

In Mansehra, Buner and Swabi districts tobacco growers had been worst hit by the levy of the general sales tax. These districts happened to be the producer of finest quality tobacco which was exported to many European countries.

High prices of plant protection compounds had also affected growers in Peshawar, Swat, Dir, Chitral and Mardan districts, who needed fungicides to protect their maize and wheat crops. These areas are the main producer of apples and oranges.

Farmers from these areas also complained of high herbicide prices, saying in the wake of unaffordable cost of inputs, they were unable to secure their wheat, maize, sugarcane and tobacco crops from attacks by weeds. The livelihood of 80 per cent of the people from these areas was dependent on a host of crop protecting compounds.

Farmers attributed the chemicals’ high costs to their being imported, saying 90 per cent of the products were imported from the US, Holland, the UK and China.