HYDERABAD, Oct 28: Sindh minister for agriculture, food and forest Hassan Ali Chanhio has said that due to the excessive use of pesticides, vegetables and food became poisonous due to which several countries had banned the import of cotton, fruits and vegetables from Pakistan.

He was speaking as chief quest at the graduation ceremony of cotton IPM facilitators and farmers at the Agriculture Training Centre, Sakrand the other day. The ceremony was organized by the National Integrated Pest Management Programme.

Mr Chanhio said to increase the export of agriculture items and to find international markets, we will have to produce chemical free crops.

He said to achieve this objective, a laboratory would also be setup in the proposed agriculture export processing zone Karachi to analyse the agriculture produce before export to ensure that they were free from chemical and poisonous affects.

He said that following the introduction of IPM programme, the growers will be able to get rid of pesticides and chemicals and added that at less cost the growers will be able to produce more through the use of crop-friendly pesticides and natural fertilisers.

The minister added in this way the growers will also be able to help curb environmental pollution.

He said that the result obtained from the IPM experimental plots had proved that while the cost of production had decreased, per acre yield of crops had increased.

He expressed the hope that besides cotton, IPM will also be introduced in the cultivation of vegetables, fruits, rice and sugarcane.

Speaking on the occasion, provincial Secretary Agriculture, Mr. Abdur Rasheed Memon spoke on the importance of IPM and its benefits to the growers.

He called upon the agriculture experts to create awareness among the growers to avoid the use of poisonous agricultural pesticides and chemical fertilisers as a lot of foreign exchange was being wasted on their imports and human health was also being affected due to their use.

Earlier, the coordinator of the programme, Dr Iftikhar Ahmed, and director general National Agriculture Research Centre, N I Hashmi spoke on the aims and objects of the programme.