ICAR-Indian Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru in association with Association for Advancement of Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems (AAPMHE) and project on IPM Demonstrations in Protection Cultivation under Karnataka State Horticultural Mission organised one-day workshop on “Good Agricultural Practices in Handling Plant Protection Chemicals in Horticulture” at ICAR-IIHR on 17/10/2019.
Dr. V. Sridhar, Principal Scientist, Division of Entomology and Nematology, welcomed all the participants and introduced about the GAP and its importance in handling pesticides by quoting latest reports of blood and urine samples containing pesticide residues in Kolar and Haveri district farmers/farm labourers. Dr. M. Krishna Reddy, Head, Division of Plant Pathology explained about the importance of the GAP in plant protection practices. Dr. M. R. Dinesh, Director, ICAR-IIHR, in his presidential remarks, praised the initiative led by the plant protection group, and stressed the importance of precautions in terms of using protective clothing etc. while handling the plant protection chemicals by the farm workers while spraying various pesticides. He also distributed protective clothing and other accessories like goggles, face mask etc. to all the Heads of Divisions for use by the farm workers in their respective divisions.
Dr. N. R. Prasanna Kumar explained about the safety precautions to be followed while handling the pesticides during storage, spraying and after spraying. Dr. B. R. Jayanthi Mala explained about the safe chemicals for horticultural crops including green chemicals, entomopathogens etc. Dr. Mandakrantha Bhattacharya, Chief Medical Officer explained about various health hazards and first aid for different pesticide categories. Dr. Debi Sharma explained about the residue management in horticultural products and importance of following safe waiting periods of various pesticides in horticultural crops.
There was a panel discussion on GAP and Plant protection and different questions raised by various participants were answered by various panellists viz., Dr. M. Krishna Reddy, Dr. K. G. Pillai, Dr. Debi Sharma and Dr. B. Balakrishna. The programme ended with vote of thanks by Dr. R. Umamaheswari. About 100 staff members of ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru including scientific, technical, skilled supporting and contractual labourers participated in the programme
