Pesticide Enterprises Enhance Social Responsibility     

In China, the pesticide industry is not a big industry but absolutely a very important one. In 2009, due to the global economic crisis and the impact of China's market downturn, as well as because of the alleviation of pest hazards and the rise of raw materials prices, the market price of pesticides fell to the bottom in China, forcing many Chinese pesticide companies to stop or reduce production. In 2009, the industrial output value (4.4%), sales value and product sales rate of China's pesticide industry increased slightly over 2008, but its profits fell sharply by 29.5% year on year. In 2010, China's domestic situation for pesticide makers is not optimistic, and the overseas markets are still depressed. In this case, the Chinese government emphasizes the importance of rural areas, agriculture and farmers. The Chinese rural economy will usher in new development opportunities. China has now taken a series of preferential policies for agriculture, such as increasing subsidies for grain and other agricultural products, which will further enhance the income and purchasing power of Chinese farmers. All these are conducive to the long-term, sustained and healthy development of the pesticide industry and to the improvement of the supply and demand of China's pesticide market. They can also improve the consumption environment and enable more new pesticides to expand their market shares, thereby enhancing the profits of pesticide producers. In the first quarter of 2010, China's pesticide industry produced 582 000 tons of pesticide active ingredient, up 16.6% year on year, achieving an industrial output value of RMB36.27 billion, up 22.8%, and a sales value of RMB34.15 billion, up 23.5%.
   Experts pointed out that the development of China's pesticide industry faces three problems. First, its standardization level is relatively low. Second, the scale of exporters needs to be enhanced. Third, its R&D and marketing ability of new pesticides need to be improved.
   Chinese pesticide enterprises must realize the gap between them and multinational companies and update their concepts, such as the concept of social responsibility and care. The social responsibility of pesticide enterprises refers to that while they make profits and are responsible for their shareholders, they must also assume the responsibility to the environment, society and their staff. Pesticide production is in fact a chemical process. The environmental protection is particularly important to it. With the increase of corporate environmental awareness and the strengthening of local environmental monitoring efforts, corporate investment in pollution control will increase year by year. After years of efforts, a number of excellent pesticide enterprises have emerged in these areas. China is one of the world's largest pesticide producers as well as a major exporter of pesticides. For seven years in a row, China's export volume of pesticides has exceeded its import volume, and its exports volume and exports value have increased year by year. If Chinese pesticide companies want to achieve great development in the international market, they must establish a good credit and reputation and provide sincere services.
   China is an agricultural country. It uses 7% of the world's arable land to feed one fifth of the world population. Providing technological services to more than 500 million Chinese farmers has become a top priority to ensure crop harvest. China's planting mix is a dispersed and small-scale production pattern. Farmers are numerous but dispersed. Because of the farmers' pesticide abuse and the insufficient knowledge of plant protection, incidents often happen, such as Hainan province's poisonous cowpea incident and Qingdao city's polluted leek incident that happened this year. To some extent, these incidents reflect the poor environmental awareness of Chinese farmers. Pesticide abuse has led to excessive pesticide residues in agricultural products. So it is urgent to vigorously promote the knowledge of plant protection and the awareness of environmental protection among the farmers.