It is not secret that the use of chemical pesticides in an attempt to increase the food supply is spreading toxicity into our food chain, as well as the environment.  Their injudicious and indiscriminate use has not only polluted the atmosphere but also had a harmful, though yet not fully determined, impact on humans and wild life.  Residues of pesticides like HCH and DDT have accumulated in the blood and milk of mammals, causing disorders in our nervous system, cardiovascular system, leading to heart, kidney and liver trouble.

As 50 percent of the potential food grain production is lost annually to insects, pests and pathogens, pesticides have been used to put an end to such waste.  Food grains worth Rs. 500 crores are lost annually in India which ranks eighth among the industrial countries of the world  in production of pesticides and is the second larges manufacturer of basic pesticidal chemicals in the Third World.  Although India uses just two percent of the world’s pesticide, half the world’s pesticide poisoning cases, and almost three quarters of deaths due to pesticide poisoning takes place in India.

There is clearly a need for a substitute for chemical pesticides.  The search for alternate, low cost and environment friendly pest control strategies has generated enthusiasm for plant derived chemicals for pest control.  Among them azadirachta indica, commonly knows as neem, is considered useful for its pharmaceutical properties as well as its traditional role as a pest controller in India.

Neem is a deciduous fast growing tree.  It occurs througout India except about the height of 6,000 feet.  It grows on almost all kinds of soils including clayey saline and alkaline soils.  The annual fruit yield of a mature neem tree is about 50 kgs.  There are some 25 million neem trees in India.

The virtues of neem are endless.  All parts of the tree are useful.  The extracts from the bark can be used as a tonic and an astringent as well as in toothpaste.  The leaves are used as medicine for ear aches, glandular tumours, jaundice, liver ailments, leucoderma, etc.  The neem fruits are a purgative and used against worms.  Its seed oil can be used by patients of T.B., leprosy, or as a spermicide.  A twig is used as a toothbrush.  Besides,  the neem has fungicidal anti bacterial, anit-viral, anti-malarial and anti-diabetic properties.  Recent studies have revealed that neem oil can be used as a contraceptive.  Work is on aborad to test the efficacy of neem enzymes to fight the AIDS virus.

In the last 70 years there has been considerable research upon the properties of neem by over 20 Indian scientific insitutes including the Indian Agriculture Research Institute  to develop a safe degradable neem pesticide.  By 1990, researchers demonstrated that neem extracts could influence alomost 200 insect species.  These included many that are resistant to, or inherently difficult to control with, conventional pesticides.

1. India is the largest producer and consumer (1,08,8000 tonnes p.a.) of pesticides in South Asia.

2. Approximately 700 plant species have reportedly been used in different parts of the world for pest control and a listing of approximately 2,400 plant species possessing pest control properties has been compiled.

3. The average rate of pesticide consumption is over one kilogramme per hectare for developed countries like USA and 10 to 12 kilogrammes for Japan.  In India the average consumption stands around 300 grammes per hectare.

4. In India the pesticide consumption rose from about 4,000 tonnes in 1950 to about 70,000 tonnes in 1991-92.

An interesting fact is that neem’s many virtues are to a large extent attributable to its chemical constituency.  Down from its roots to its crown, the tree contains a number of potent compounds called limonoids, notably a chemical found in its seed called azadirachtin.

Because of its bitter constituent known as Meliacins, neem is avoided by locusts.  The extracts of neem leaves and fruits provide protection to various crops against insect pests.  Besides being an insect growth regulator, it is toxic and kills worms or parasitic nematodes.  A spraty of neem extract does not show any scorching or adverse effect on the growth of plants.  Neem cakes i.e. the kernal residue after extraction of oil, can be used to provide nutrients to the soil and are used against insect, fungi and retard the actions of nitrifying bacteria.

The government has proposed an Integrated Pest Management Programme through which farmers are encouraged to use minimum pesticides.  More emphasis is laid on the use of other methods like botanical, mechanical and physical, including right cultural practices.  The government has taken the initiative in relaxing the rules for registration of neem based products for pest control.  It also provides provisional registration on application to entrepreneurs interested in developing and marketing neem based formulations; and entrepreneurs have up to two years to report the efficacy and toxicity test results.  Responding to this policy, more than a dozen Indian  entrepreneurs are now formulating, marketing and even exporting neem based pest control products.

The economic benefits of growing neem as a cash crop are enormous.  It provides employment at the local level and a high rate of return.  The price of neem seeds has gone up from Rs. 300 a tonne 20 years ago to Rs. 8,000 a tonne today.

But the possibility of neem pesticides replacing chemical pesticides in India where 350 small scale units are engaged in pesticide formulation seems remote.  Can it provide employment to the 15,000 involved in the production of synthetic chemicals?

The idea of taking up the production of neem has not yet caught the fancy of private entrepreneurs on a significant scale.  And if the government does not actively promote it, the sudden enthusiasm of the West to use neem pesticides might prove ominous.  Some people from the West call the neem ‘a tree for solving global problems’.  West’s corporate eyes are glued to the virtues of the neem.  An American sold the patent for a neem extract called Morgosan O to a multinational chemical corporation, W.R. Grace and Company who now has a joint venture with P.J. Margo Pvt. Ltd. to process neem seed for export to US with a production potential of 20 tonnes of seed a day.  It was reported that in the first year of manufacture, 100 million dollar worth of Margosan O was sold.  If our government does not act fast, India shall loose out to the West in the race to make money out of neem.

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