Mysore/Mysuru: CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysuru, had organised a one-day National webinar on “Fumigation and alternative methods for safe storage and trade of food grains: Current and future prospects” in city recently.

UPL Ltd., Mumbai, an agrochemical production and marketing limited multi-national firm having worldwide expertise in the area of fumigation, sponsored and involved in organisation of this webinar.

CFTRI signed an MoU for sharing technical know-how with UPL, Mumbai, earlier this year.

Dr. Sridevi Annapurna Singh, Director, CSIR-CFTRI, Mysuru, inaugurated the webinar coordinated by Food Protectants and Infestation Control (FPIC) Department.

In her inaugural address, the CFTRI Director spoke about the importance of grain storage as well as loss of nutritive value of the grain due to insect pests infestations.

She also highlighted the requirement of grain storage silos, alternative fumigants and biofumigants for safe storage of food grains etc.

Dr. Prakash M. Halami, Chief Scientist & Head, FPIC Department, in his introductory remarks emphasised the importance of grain storage loss due to insect pests and food grain damage caused by about 100 different species of insects predominantly comprising of weevils, borers, beetles and moths.

He pointed out ozone layer depletion, insect resistance against phosphine due to excessive usage of fumigants and limitation of ozone gas as a fumigant. Hence, the need of integrated pest management approach in grain storage management is highly focussed on the current scenario.

The webinar was themed on six different research fields namely Grain storage management, Fumigation technology, Hermetic technology, Biocontrol technology, Fumigant monitoring and Regulatory aspects.

Dr. P. Srinivas Rao, Professor from IIT, Kharagpur spoke on modern grain storage structures for safe storage of post-harvest food grains.

Three eminent experts from UPL, Mumbai, Dr. S. Rajendran (Consultant), Ujjawal Kumar (Business Head), Rajneesh Kumar (Technical Advisor),  shared their knowledge in the area of fumigation and stored grain protection; fumigant monitoring and safety; the importance of fumigation regulatory aspects in trade and export.

Dr. S. Sumithra Devi from  FPIC Deparmnet delivered lecture on need of organic pesticides, challenges and opportunities of bio-based fumigants for safe storage of food grains.

Praveen Gupta from GrainPro Inc., Noida, spoke on hermetic technology and non-chemical methods of infestation control.

At the end of the technical session, a panel discussion was also organised. A total of 73 participants including academicians, pest control operators and students, researchers from different parts of country joined the webinar.