ICAR ties up with FCI to trial alternative pest control in grain storage | Economy & Policy News

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has signed an agreement with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to conduct trials on alternative post-harvest pest control methods in FCI storage facilities. These methods use nitrogen gas, carbon dioxide (CO2) and a synergistic combination of CO2 and phosphine as alternatives to the widely used aluminium phosphide (ALP) and malathion.

“For decades, India’s critical grain reserves have relied heavily on aluminium phosphide (ALP) and malathion for post-harvest pest control. However, widespread and repeated use of these chemicals has led to severe consequences, including pest resistance frequencies reaching 72-100 per cent in key Indian states and escalating fumigation cycles that drive up operational costs. Furthermore, current chemical methods pose significant respiratory threats to workers and long-term ecological risks,” an official statement said.

To address these risks, the two bodies will undertake three major joint trials in the first phase: first, nitrogen gas fumigation in wheat stored in metal silos; second, combined carbon dioxide and phosphine gas fumigation for managing and controlling storage pests in wheat and rice stored in bags at warehouses; and third, carbon dioxide fumigation for managing and controlling storage pests in wheat and rice in bags enclosed in hermetic covers.

After the two-year Phase I pilot, Phase II will expand into a one-year multi-location trial across varied agro-climatic zones to establish region-specific standard operating procedures (SOPs), the official statement added.