Surinder Sud / New Delhi September 15, 2008, 5:34 IST Spurious and substandard pesticides worth around Rs 1,200 crore are palmed off to unwary farmers every year. This results in a net loss to the farmers of crops worth about Rs 6,000 crore. These estimates have been compiled by the Agrochemicals Policy Group (APG), a pesticides industry body that aims to promote the safe use of plant protection chemicals. Indeed, a sizeable number of suicides by cotton growers in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and other states over the past few years have been attributed to the use of spurious pesticides that caused widespread crop losses. According to APG chairman S Kumarasamy, most spurious pesticide-making units are located in western Uttar Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and western Maharashtra. Indira Market in Delhi is said to have become the leading centre for the sale and distribution of these fake pesticides.