The Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, together with the national director (s) of the Agricultural and Livestock Service -SAG-, Andrea Collao, announced that the country had banned the use and marketing of all pesticides containing chlorpyrifos-ethyl, chlorpyrifos-methyl, paraquat dichloride, and methomyl because of their high degree of toxicity. They also presented a new 2022-2025 Work Plan for the Regulation and Control of Pesticides in Chile.
"This milestone agreement that will prohibit a significant part of the pesticides that have higher levels of toxicity was achieved thanks to many actors, including Karina Buzzetti, peasant organizations Fedefruta, the SNA, the horticultural sector, the SAG's coordination, and the strong work with the College of Agronomists," stated Minister Valenzuela.
"This entails the cancellation of 31 pesticides that exist in the market," stated the national director (s) of the SAG, Andrea Collao. "We marked this milestone with a work plan that involves an inter-ministerial table, strengthening traceability in the purchase of agrochemicals and a host of measures that will allow us to move forward in food security and sustainable agriculture," she added.
Scope of the new 2022-2025 pesticide plan
The new work plan, which will be carried out by the SAG, considers short-term, medium-term, and long-term initiatives, thus initiating a process of analysis and changes in the procedures and regulations that support, mainly, the process to evaluate and control pesticides. It consists of joint and collaborative work between the SAG and other actors, such as other agricultural services, civil society organizations, trade unions, NGOs, the Ministry of Health, and academia, among others.
The main initiatives of the plan include important changes in the process to evaluate new agrochemicals, such as the establishment of interdisciplinary work tables; the development with INIA of a new methodology of analysis; new forms of authorization of products present in the European Union and the United States; prioritizing the authorization of green pesticides (plant extracts, semi-chemicals, microbials, others); traceability requirements in the purchase of these chemicals; requiring a prescription from agronomic engineers to purchase products; banning sale to anybody below 18; and restrictions on the application of pesticides that are considered highly dangerous, among other things.
In order to comply with the provisions of the recently approved Beekeeping Law, the country will start the process of adapting to the current pesticide regulations.
Source: minagri.gob.cl
