A critical over view on the Endosulfan production for agriculture

A critical over view on the Endosulfan production for agriculture

By: Banti Deori

The pathways of agriculture is changing in todays global scenario, many nation have build different policies and supportive investments at national to global level. In the 21^st century agriculture it still continues to have become the fundamental instrument for sustainable development and poverty reduction. Agriculture is the instrument that has transformed many societies, which had served to be the pathway for many million of people to move out of poverty(TheWorld Bank report 2008)

Even the classical growth theory focuses on the role of agriculture is to generate surplus, which further creates employment, increase in demand for industry and help to generate foreign exchange. In the 1930s onwards the many nation started concentrating on new intensive methods or measures implemented for the high growth of production in agriculture.This “new agriculture” includes the smallholder farming and animal husbandry and employment through entrepreneurship and helping the job in the emerging rural, nonfarm economy on “high value product”.

The post-independence period marks a turning point in the history of Indian agriculture is clear from the fact that compared with a rate of growth of less than 0.5 per cent per annum during 1904-5 to 1944-45 the agricultural sector recorded an annual growth rate of 2.7 per cent during 1949-50 to 1983-84. This growth has been achieved as a result of high priority accorded to agriculture. During this period the policy maker had adopted the two main strategies for the regenerating agriculture immediately after independence. The first was to implement land reforms in order to remove institutional bottlenecks and the second element was to undertake massive investment in irrigationand other infrastructure in order to update the existing agricultural technology. The most important event in the social history of India was land reforms enacted and implemented during the mid-fifties and was studied intensively by many researchers. But the technological up gradation which also played a crucial role in agricultural production was being ignored. It only tried to look at it for mass usage of production. Since, technology was seen to determine the production potential and land reforms only determined on the pattern of land distribution, or used for land relation. What is important now is that technology used for agriculture should not been seen in isolation but rather look form the institution framework of it. Since, Technology does not exist in a vacuum but operates within a given institutional and social context, it is important to study their interaction.It requires the visibility of the state in operating these technologies.Therefore, one of the new methods was to use the chemical pesticides in the agricultural production. The insect pests, diseases and weeds inflict considerable damaged the crops, and plantations production resulting in crop loss.

The earliest use of chemicals to prevent crop losses is reported in the nineteenth century with the use of inorganic salts. Only in 1930s, the beginning of the modern era of synthetic organic pesticides which saw the discovery of DDT (in 1939) and BHC (in 1942) was used globally. Thehosts of chloro-organic compounds were introduced. Then came the organ phosphorous com-pounds representing another extremely important class of organic insecticides, Malathion being the first example of a wide spectrum insecticide with low mammalian toxicity.

Endosulfan is an organ chlorine insecticide. It is used to control a wide range of sucking and chewing insects, including aphids, thrips, beetles, foliar feeding caterpillars, mites, borers, cutworms, bollworms, bugs, whiteflies, leafhoppers and tester flies and other inverted- rates such as snails in rice paddies and earthworms inturf. It is applied on crops,on farm animals and pets,on sport fields and in other situations. Many had famed for it capacity that could to increase agriculture productivity. Endosulphan acts as a contact poison for a wide variety of insects and mites and has been used extensively worldwide on food crops. For example it is used in banana, berry fruit, cabbageand other crucifers, cassava, citrus, coffee, corn, cottonand other fiber crops, cowpea, eggplant, forage crops,forest trees, garlic, lettuce, mango, moonbeam, onion,ornamentals, peanut, pepper, pigeon pea, oil crops,ornamentals, potato, rice, sesame, sorghum, soy- bean, squash and other cucurbits, string bean, sweet potato, tea, tomato, and wheat production.It was used in resistance management globally, but it also had a non-specific character in it which could cause a negativelyimpact on populations of some beneficial insects.

Endosulfan was developed during the 1950. It was first approved by USDA in United States in 1954. Only on 2000 the use of Endosulfan in home and garden was stopped and the agreement had terminated. In 2002 united nation completely cancelled the registration and recommendation of Endosulphan in their fisheries, wildlife services and imposed restriction on agricultural uses, as EPA determined that Endosulfan residues on food and in water pose unacceptable risks, but rather allowed it to stay in the Market. In 2008 in February, environmental, consumer and farm labour groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council ,Organic Consumers Association, and the United Farm Workers asked  U.S. EPA to ban Endosulfan. Later it formed a mass coalition between the scientists, environmental groups, and arctic tribes asking the EPA to cancel Endosulfan. In July a coalition of environmental and workers groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA challenging its 2002 decision to not ban it. Hence, in 2009 the Stockholm Convention's Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) agreed that Endosulfan is a persistent organic pollutant and that "global action is warranted", setting the stage of a global ban of it. The Indian Supreme Court banned its manufacture, sale and use of toxic pesticides currently 2011. Where the apex court said the ban would remain effective for 8 weeks during, which an expert committee headed by DG, ICMR, will give an interim report to the court about the harmful effect of the widely used pesticide.Manufacturing and usage of Endosulfan in India has recently come only to complete halt, which was already being banned worldly. Endosulfan manufactured in India constitutes 70 per cent of the global market, with its total exports valued at about Rs180 crore.

A wide difference exists in the per hectare use of pesticides between the developed and developing countries. The World pesticides sales at consumer level prices was Rs 5,647 crore in 1975, Rs 8,996 crore in 1978 and Rs, 11,442 crore in 1980. India with almost 4 per cent of world cropped area had a share of less than 2 per cent of world pesticide consumption in 1981. It is forecast that by the end of eighties, the annual consumption of pesticides in developing countries will total $ 12 billion. (Economic and political weekly, dated 07/10/20110).

A case in Kerala

The Kasargod district placed in the north side of Kerala with fertile land and an abundance of water, the cashew industry once flourished amid dense vegetation, red earth and coconut palms. Whose residents have been plagued by the spraying of Endosulfan pesticide? The use of which was recently banned by the Supreme Court of India. Where it documented that Endosulfan had affected the human development ,especially the research show the children (among boys) of these villages in the district, who got linked with the Endosulfan are affecting on the sexual maturity.The researchers concluded that "our study results suggest that Endosulfan exposure in male children may delay sexual maturity and interfere with sex hormone synthesis”.Increased incidences of cryptorchidism have been observed in other studies of Endosulfan exposed populations. Endosulfan was the only pesticide applied to cashew plantations in the villages for 20 years and had contaminated the village environment.

Where families completely breaking down to pushing innocents into the dark well of irrecoverable diseases that the Endosulfan menace has often been described by them as equally devastating as the Bhopal gas tragedy. People were ignorant about the high toxicity of Endosulfan, believing in curses and 'the will of God'.

Leelakumari Amma battled the plantation corporation to the high court in 2000. Who had played a key role in having Endosulfan banned in Kerala; she observed an abnormal amount of illnesses in the community, which triggered her suspicion of chemical poisoning. “People had to walk through these fields that had been sprayed as there was no transportation. Children walked through the fields. There were no butterflies; there were no birds; so it was concrete evidence for my suspicions”.Considering the situation has being called as "next in magnitude only to the Bhopal gas tragedy”.In 2006, in Kerala, compensation of Rs 50,000 was paid to the next kin of each of 135 people who were identified as having died as a result of Endosulfan use. Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan also gave an assurance to people affected by poisoning, "that the government would chalk out a plan to take care of treatment, food and other needs of the affected persons and that its promise of rehabilitation of victims would be honoured."

India was the world's largest user of Endosulfanand a major producer were the three companies—Excel Crop Care, Hindustan Insecticides Ltd, and Coromandal Fertilizers—producing 4,500 tonnes annually for domestic use and another 4,000 tonnes for export. However, it is still being debated whether environmentally acceptable material can do what more persistent pesticides have failed to do. In using (and frequently misusing) natural resources, agriculture can create good and bad environmental outcomes.  What we forget is to see that economic growth causing a huge damage to our natural environment? Besides also seeing the ironic role of the state played in the banning this toxic, which has being recognized globally and in west as cause hazards for human race.

Is development no more for the marginalized people or poorer people, who can’t raise their concern? Rather to be the economic production for growth that could be measured in numbers. Do we still believe the need for the social welfare for large people? Where technology or scientific invention could create a space for all human life to survive? And not to look into the Charles Darwin law of Survival of the fittest. 

Development is stimulated with language of the dominant scientific economic paradigm. Which has been the creation of new knowledge that is based on dominant scientific- industrial paradigm, where it uses the instrumental rationality and cognitive framework of neo-classical economic for its validity or language on the economic rationality in it.

Jürgen Harbermas theory explains on “How the scientific economic paradigm came to dominate meaning of sustainable development” that the present condition where the sustainable developments have lost its meaning form where it had begun earlier. The earlier it was meant with its objectives that mostly dealt with human progress in the society and now it has slowly changed its meaning, on focusing on its process. Since, this process includes these knowledge or philosophies tools that are measured with the financial bottom line as the base of all decision. The sustainable development started becoming contradicting, as the growth or the development was measured in terms in ethic of finance, which was completely opposed to ethic of values and diversity.Jürgen Harbermas on a study of communicative action on forms the principal ethic, where the communicative action becomes the centralized body of society.

So what we forget is to questions? or to have a specific understanding on “how these knowledge was constructed” this whole pathway of development for the underdeveloped countries and to look into the insight of the meaning of development.

It is must to one understand the forum of the ground reality, that the need of social welfare to become the key component of environmental health.  This Social welfare to be the key factor in achieving this balance between the environment and economic development commenting “I search for ideas that aim at ecological health and social welfare and that embrace applied values”.

Hence, to a make the complete ban on the Endosulfan toxic use in India, it took around long 6yrs of time, but the effect of it remained way longer. We see a laid back attitude of the state in its implication to completely terminate the registration of Endosulfan. Therefore, we see a clear imbalance between the decision of the state and the public forum. This kind of toxic was affected to largely to the poor farmer or villager, but this had being produce by these three major companies like Excel Crop Care, Hindustan Insecticides Ltd, and Coromandal Fertilizers,Who had being serving the benefit out form its production. We see a complete role of power domination frame work function here, a capitalist way of extraction method explained by Marx earlier. Only now the disjunction is seen between the state and the people of the state. Therefore , the  Power is no  more seen as thing or object that could be imposed by the dominant group on the inferior group (capitalist and labour) but it has rather formed now into the fluid stage that exists in the exercise relationship between the two elements. Similarly, a state exercise it power on the people due to its control on the relationship, but what comes to the question is that, who are the people in the state? Is the state being for the capitalist or is capital state in itself?