CropLife Pakistan launches Pesticide Container Management Programme

ISLAMABAD: The CropLife Pakistan Association on Monday launched the Pesticide Container Management Programme to create awareness in line with the CropLife International’s campaign on Container Disposal Awareness.

The campaign has been launched to protect both environment and operators from exposure, appropriate handling, and safe disposal of the used pesticides containers, reducing waste, and maximising recycling.

The inauguration of the project was arranged at Corteva Research Center Renala, chaired by Director General Research Ayub Agriculture Research Institute (AARI) Dr M Nawaz Khan Maikan.

While addressing the event, Director General Research AARI, Dr M Nawaz Khan Maikan has said that environmental stewardship is a life cycle approach to the agrochemical product management which is the responsible and ethical way to manage products from their discovery and development to their use and the final disposal of any waste.

He stressed the stakeholders to follow the guidelines for the sake of the environment and the community.

Executive Director CropLife Pakistan, Rashid Ahmad while highlighting the efforts being made by CropLife Pakistan Association in the plant science industry, explained the international developments in crop protection, seed and agricultural biotechnology, with the aim to provide transparent information to its stakeholders and welcomes open dialogue with parties interested in the future of food and farming.

The speakers appreciated that CropLife Pakistan Association is committed towards promoting effective stewardship in and beyond the field and believes that the appropriate management and use of agrochemical products can help underpin sustainable agriculture and safeguard the environment and public health. CropLife Pakistan Association is taking the lead to ensure the appropriate disposal and recycling of empty crop protection containers to protect the health of farmers and their communities as well as the environment. The overall aim of the stewardship approach in the agrochemical industry is to maximize the benefits, and minimize any risk, from using crop protection products.

The event was attended by the local agriculture department officials, academia, farmers, dealers and CropLife member company’s representatives. This is a pilot project and will be expanded in other geographies for the awareness of the farming community.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022