Obsolete pesticides removed from Punjab

LAHORE-The Punjab Minister of Agriculture, Khurshid Zaman Qureshi, on August 8 announced that a project for the removal for destruction of some 317 tonnes of obsolete pesticides has now been successfully completed.

According to a Press release issued by Agriculture Department, the destruction of the stocks by high temperature incineration has been undertaken in one of Europe's most advanced specialist incinerators with the sponsorship of the Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE), Islamabad. This much-needed initiative, which started in 1997, formed part of the Netherlands Government's bilateral aid programme with Pakistan. A number of original manufacturers of the pesticides voluntarily provided a contribution towards the total cost.

The pesticides remained from/before 1980 when the Federal Government stopped its policy of central pesticide purchase and free distribution to farmers. These pesticides had exceeded their shelf-lives and had become unusable, and were presenting a potential risk to local communities and to the environment. The project collected the pesticides and associated materials from 13 high priority stores in the Province of Punjab, following which the stores were cleaned.

The pesticides were packed into special transport containers to enable their safe transportation to the Netherlands for incineration

The RNE contracted GTZ, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, to implement the project on its behalf, in close cooperation with the Punjab Department of Agriculture. The Dutch hazardous waste disposal company, AVR International, was awarded the contract to undertake the collection, clean-up, transport, shipping and incineration activities.

A separate part of the project involved the undertaking of a GTZ-supervised inventory of the remaining pesticide stores in the Province of Punjab, which identified almost 1000 tonnes of further obsolete pesticide stocks. The project also involved the training of local teams in the techniques of undertaking inventories and of the safeguarding of obsolete pesticide stocks. This transfer of know-how is expected to prove valuable for the eventual removal and destruction of the remaining obsolete pesticide stocks m the country.

The Royal Netherlands Embassy hopes this pioneering initiative in Pakistan will be followed quickly by further projects involving other government agencies and manufacturers from the original supplying countries. Minister Qureshi said that he appreciated the support of the Dutch government and confirmed that the Department of Agriculture is fully committed to assist further donor projects to achieve the safe removal and destruction of all of the remaining obsolete pesticide stocks.

It may be noted that 13 stores involved in the project were in the areas of Lahore, Bahawalnagar, Sadiqabad, Chiniot, Sahiwal, Okara, Gujranwalla, Khanpur, Hasilpur and Bahawalpur.

The principal parties involved in the project included Punjab Department of Agriculture which provided the staff who were trained to carry out the survey of the remaining pesticide stores in the province. The Royal Netherlands Embassy, Islamabad, is currently involved in development programmes in the field of environment, education, reproductive health, institutional development and rural development with a total value of $ 10 million per year. The total funding provided by the RNE to the Punjab Pesticide Disposal Project was around Dutch Guilders 3 million (approx $ 1.3 million).

GTZ is one of the world's largest service enterprises in the field of development ca-operation. It is wholly owned by the German Federal Government and works on a public benefit basis. GTZ has wide experience of projects for the disposal of obsolete pesticide stocks from Mauritania, Pakistan (North West Frontier Province), Madagascar, Niger, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and a number of other countries.

AVR International is a member of the AVR Group of Companies established near Rotterdam, The Netherlands, for the safe processing of domestic, industrial and hazardous waste.