India is the 4th largest manufacturer of agrochemicals in the world. Traditionally in India, formulations such as emulsifiable concentrates (EC), soluble concentrates (SL), granules (GR), and wettable powders (WP) have been used extensively. In recent times, there has been a gradual shift to new generation, environment friendly formulations such as: Water dispersible granules (WDG), suspension concentrates (SC), micro-emulsions (ME), suspo-emulsions (SE), micro-encapsulation (CS), and oil dispersions (OD). Seed treatment formulations are also increasing in number. At Nagarjuna Agrichem, the focus is on development of sustainable crop protection. Current R&D projects include: (a) replacement of petroleum based solvents by green solvents; (b) development of WDG, SC, CS, and ZC (CS plus SC) formulations; (c) use of environmentally friendly surfactants; and (d) bio-pesticides. Many other reputed crop protection chemical companies in India are devoting their R&D resources for development of environment-friendly and sustainable formulations. The Institute of Pesticides Formulations Technology of the Government of India, located near New Delhi, is one of very few institutes in the world that is dedicated only to research in pesticide formulations. This institute has also developed, apart from the above, tablets, gels, microcapsule, seed treatment products, mixture of CS and SE (ZE), CS and EW (ZW), floating sustained release granules, and water soluble packaging. India's move towards sustainable crop protection, including the work done at Nagarjun Agrichem, will be discussed in detail.

India's move towards sustainable crop protection: Recent developments in pesticide formulation

248th National Meeting (2014)

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