LAHORE: New laws on spurious pesticides will soon be framed to control manufacturing and sale of adulterated pesticides and fertilisers in the province. This was stated by Minister for Agriculture Malik Ahmed Ali Aulakh on Wednesday. He said that the government was consulting the stakeholders so that effective laws could be framed. Among the laws that the government is hoping to amend are the Pesticides Ordinance 1971, the Fertiliser Control Order 1985 and the Seed Act 1976. Three committees have been formed, which will submit their recommendations within seven days. The minister said that steps are being taken to ensure provision of quality agricultural pesticides and fertilisers to the farmers. This, he said, had resulted in a decrease in adulteration. In 2012, as many as 1,702 cases have been registered against people involved in adulteration and producing substandard pesticides while 911,000 litres of spurious pesticides, worth Rs430 million, were seized, he added. About 1.7 million kg spurious fertilisers were seized.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 3rd, 2013.
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