New Delhi [India], October 24 (ANI): Rising pesticide residue contamination and food safety alerts are posing challenges for agricultural exports, including Indian rice, prompting industry experts at the Bharat International Rice Conference (BIRC) to call for stricter farm-to-export quality monitoring, greater farmer awareness and the development of pest-resistant crop varieties to meet international food safety standards.

Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of the event, Poorvi Shah, Head of Food and Laboratory Services at SGS India, highlighted concerns over contamination-related alerts and container-related issues affecting the export industry.

She further stressed that addressing contamination requires continuous monitoring across the agricultural supply chain, beginning at the farm level.

"There are container issues," Shah said, adding, "It is kind of a process...It has to start from the farm, and all the processes have to be monitored. That is what we need to do."

On the other hand, Pankaj Jaminy, Managing Director of Eurofins Analytical Services India, called for greater involvement of farmers and agricultural research organisations in addressing pesticide residue contamination.

He stressed the importance of promoting pest-resistant crop varieties to reduce dependence on chemical pesticides and improve compliance with international food safety standards.

"The farmers have to be included, and the research organisations also have to really promote the pest-resistant varieties. So, it's a holistic system change which has to happen to ensure that the pesticide residue contamination goes down in the years to come," Jaminy said.

"Farmers have to be included, and research organisations must also promote pest-resistant varieties. A holistic systemic change is needed to ensure that pesticide residue contamination decreases in the years to come," he said.

Highlighting the scale of the issue, Jaminy said approximately 1,600 rapid alerts had been recorded in the European Union over the past six years, of which around 1,000 were related to pesticides.

According to Jaminy, "Pesticides are not only a problem for India but for most of the agricultural economies because this is the way you safeguard your product from insects or from pests or any other victim."

"Now, the solution is that we can educate our farmers to use a limited amount of pesticide," he said. (ANI)