New Delhi [India], October 24 (ANI): Indian rice exporters need to strengthen farm-level pesticide management, traceability and testing across the supply chain to reduce shipment rejections in international markets, industry participants said at the Bharat International Rice Conference 2026, warning that failures can damage exporters' profitability and India's reputation.

During a panel discussion on rice export quality and certification at the Bharat International Rice Conference (BIRC), representatives of testing laboratories, inspection agencies and exporters agreed that preventing contamination at the source and ensuring compliance with destination-specific requirements were essential to addressing the problem.

'Industry must move from a model of testing and reacting to one of anticipating and preventing,' said Poorvi Shah, Head of Food Testing Services at SGS India, highlighting the need for food safety assurance throughout the supply chain.

Mirza Alam, Vice-President of AHK Group, said an analysis of rice shipment rejections in European markets during the financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26 showed that pesticide residues accounted for 69 per cent of the rejections, while aflatoxins and other mycotoxins accounted for 23 per cent.

Anand Sharma, Senior Manager at EAS, called for a farm-to-port traceability system to identify the sources of contamination and establish accountability across the supply chain.

'A residue finding alone does not prove pesticide misuse. The root cause must be established through documented evidence and investigation on other possible sources,' Sharma said.

He said exporters needed to link pesticide application records, crop histories, supplier details and laboratory findings to determine whether consignments met the requirements of importing countries.

Dr Pankaj Jaiminy, Managing Director of Eurofins Analytical Services India, said addressing pesticide-related rejections required solutions at the farmer level, alongside faster testing facilities and improved crop varieties.

'Unless we really provide solutions to farmers on how to mitigate that risk, the rejections will not come down,' he said, citing mobile testing laboratories near agricultural mandis as one way to identify compliant paddy before procurement.

Avinash Maheshwari, CEO of GEO-CHEM LAB, said checks needed to begin before procurement and continue through milling, sampling and shipment. He also stressed the importance of carefully checking buyer specifications alongside regulatory requirements.

Isha Garg, Director of VI Exports, highlighted the financial burden of repeated testing and certification, saying differences between laboratory results could delay shipments and reduce exporters' already narrow margins.

Sandeep Patankar, National Head of Sales and Marketing at SGS India, highlighted QR-code-enabled traceability as a way to track consignments and identify the source of quality failures.

The discussion underscored the need for coordinated action by farmers, millers, exporters and testing agencies to protect the credibility of Indian rice in global markets. (ANI)