Punjab’s tomatoes are free of pesticides, say studies
LUDHIANA: In a positive surprise, tomato grown in Punjab is free of pesticides, a Union government project meant to study the impact of the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers and insecticides on crops has found. The National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM), a body under the Union agriculture ministry, is conducting the three-year study in collaboration with the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. The study started in October last year.
“The first-year results of the study are encouraging. Things are not as bad as we think. We could not find as much of the pesticide residue as has been publicised. In none of the tomato samples, did we detect pesticides above the prescribed MRL (Maximum Residue Limit),” said Dr G Jayalakshmi, director NIPHM, adding that pesticide resideues could not be detected from samples taken from organic and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) fields. IPM is a method by which soil is worked on to make it better prepared for pest management.
“Some fruit samples drawn from conventional farmers fields showed the presence of residues of mancozeb, profenophos and triazophos, but these were also below the MRL levels and thus safe,” she added.
Two crops were studied in both the kharif and the rabi seasons. To distinguish between fields, samples were also taken from organic as well as conventional fields. Specifically, samples were collected from one-acre fields Swal village in Sultanpur Lodhi. The organic field selected was from Dvyagram, Nurmahal, in Jalandhar. For conventional fields, 10 villages in Kapurthala were chosen to take samples.
As if to support this theory, a PAU study has found that the consumption of insecticides in Punjab has declined from 3,800 metric tonnes in 2001-02 to 2,344 metric tonnes in 2016-17, a drop of around 40%. Another PAU study on status of pesticide residues in Punjab done on 5,224 food crops from 2011 to 2017 also shows that almost 92% of crops were free of pesticides. This signals a trend reversal as a similar study on 1,507 crops done three decades ago from 1981 to 1990 showed only 22% within the safe limit.
PAU V-C Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon said, “Tomatoes are also consumed raw in large quantities and the study’s results are welcome.” Advances in research have contributed to ensuring food safety and ensured that pesticide residues in crops is contained within limits, he said.
2 CROPS WERE STUDIED IN BOTH SEASONS, AND SAMPLES WERE TAKEN FROM ORGANIC AS WELL AS CONVENTIONAL FIELDS FOR BALANCE