As PMPs know, though rats are explorers, they also fear and avoid new objects like a rodenticide. Unfortunately, such neophobic rat behavior comes in the way of effective rodent baiting as the target rodents do not consume the bait PMPs intend for them, which reduces the effectiveness of rodent management.
I want to highlight the widespread neophobic behavior among PMPs and its consequences in this article.
Starting as a food safety manager, I used secure bait stations, multi-catch rodent traps, and stored insect pheromone monitoring traps when Indian PMPs did not know or use such products.
Joining a PCO in 2000, I started introducing pest management tools I was familiar with in a food company that complied with international food safety standards. For example, it was common for PMPs to use granular or solid bait in cardboard trays they placed inside premises in those days.
Bait ingestion and death of rodents and their decomposition of dead rodent carcasses at unknown places inside structures were common. Irate customers would complain about the noxious odors from rotting rodents that had consumed rodent bait, but helpless PCOs would be unable to locate and deal with the problem.
When I broached the subject of secure bait stations that I suggested for indoor and outdoor use with glueboards indoors and rodent bait outdoors, an industry veteran at my company told me I was embarking on a wrong project. He was an accountant, and his concept of a profitable business was one where we would generate profit by economizing on costs. He had no idea of food safety standards that mandated non-use of rodent bait indoors and the need for PCOs to use only secure, tamper-proof rodent bait stations outdoors.
As B2B customers did not insist on outdoor and safe rodent bait use, PCOs used such toxic material indoors and frequently created odor problems inside buildings from rotting, unlocatable rodent carcasses.
About twenty years ago, I introduced steel rodent stations to accommodate glueboards for indoor use and rodent bait outdoors. Though slow, the Indian pest control industry adopted such stations, with numerous manufacturers developing metallic rodent stations for PCO use. One of the interesting aspects of all such rodent stations is that their area equals or is more than that of the small glueboards Indian PMPs widely use.
In 2022, glueboard trapping and toxic baiting are either disallowed by some countries or are coming into question because of animal rights, secondary poisoning, and, most importantly, the availability of alternatives. Indian pest control industry still widely relies on glueboards and toxic baits as rodent control measures though both those techniques have limitations and questionable efficacy.
I have found the resistance to new ideas and inability to adopt innovation quite common among Indian PMPs each time they encounter an industry-changing concept. For example, two decades ago, when Aventis introduced the Goliath cockroach gel, I could see similar reactions from the users.
Imagine a revolutionary new product that changed cockroach treatments as you no longer had to spray pesticide emulsions wearing respiratory protection against a common household pest. The consumer enjoyed great convenience not having to empty storage spaces and could remain at their homes even as a PMP applied the Goliath gel.
Alas, the early adoption of Goliath gel was not great in India. Technicians would say that the customers would not accept such gel baiting, and their managers supported them. However, the product had several other amazing benefits, including the cost-saving by a PCO having to send only one technician for a home cockroach treatment.
Traditional pest control at Indian homes involved water and oil base emulsions that two technicians would apply with pressure pumps. Switching to Goliath gel, PCOs could send a one-person team to a consumer’s home for the hassle and odor-free treatment.
I have been closely involved with the third example I offer here. First, I set up India’s most extensive pheromone trap monitoring program against stored product insects twenty-seven years ago. Then, bringing that knowledge to the pest control industry, I introduced the stored product monitoring service.
Such monitoring could help customers determine pest insect population levels in spaces and plan corrective actions such as fumigation, fogging, or even product disposal to contain and limit the infestation. ITC was one of the few Indian companies using the Japanese Serrico traps to monitor cigarette beetles those days. In addition, I collaborated with Trece, Inc of the USA to import and sell their Storgard products in India.
Though PCOs had a new service in pheromone monitoring that they could monetize, adopting that technology has been very slow. Though PCOs could increase their revenue with it, they have not taken an interest in it, with the result pheromone trap monitoring is still relatively rare in the Indian industry.
An industry veteran complained to me of the lack of products for Indian PMPs as one of the reasons for business stagnation. However, he would not admit that he had not promoted the use of the products like pheromone traps though he had spent more than three decades in our industry.
The problems that Indian PCOs’ neophobia creates are that the industry does not progress through newer tools limiting its expansion. Further, MNC pesticide brands do not consider India a big enough market for introducing new pesticide molecules for which they would spend considerably for the product registration.
Numerous unique products like Bayer’s Quick Bayt for flies, Maxforce Quantum for ants, and Aqua K-Othrine against mosquitoes do not enjoy widespread PCO use. However, each of them is a highly researched product with a unique mode of action. Similarly, though Syngenta has introduced Icon WP and CS formulations against mosquitoes and other pests, those products have limited popularity among PCOs.
The central problem of Indian PCOs is their reluctance to adopt new technology to improve their services and enhance their profits. In such a scenario, the smarter PMPs who use newer products can differentiate themselves and profit from customer satisfaction through efficacious pest treatments.