ORAMA has noted the realistic approach in the “Ecophyto 2018 Plan” released by the Ministry of Agriculture on September 10, and is paying special attention to its enforcement in practice. The plan has focused on the professional standards of field crop producers, with consideration for natural contingencies they have to cope with and the means they have for managing them. On its own scale, the plan appears to be in line with the balance which the Government has been advocating with its slogan “Produce more and better!”
Such a balance, however, can only be guaranteed if, in a broader context, the public authorities are determined in their efforts to ensure that the means of production needed are available to farmers.
ORAMA intends to have the Government make genuine advances in this area. It is high time for progress to be made on issues which need to be dealt with for what they are, i.e. serious scientific, technical and financial matters, not merely subjects for political point-scoring. ORAMA has called for action to be taken, in the light of the most recent expert reports, so that final approvals can be given for seed treatment (Cruiser, Poncho, Fipronil and Gaucho) and so that the French safeguard clause on MON 810 maize is suspended.
It is also essential for the Government to show uncompromising determination in efforts to ensure that the revision of Directive EC/91/414 (approvals of active plant protection substances) does not end up in a situation where farmers are caught in a technical trap with a large number of products taken off the market. The tentative criteria for assessing substances must be modified. The issue at stake is whether a large and wide range of products will be available to farmers as an essential tool for them to be able to produce more and better.
ORAMA believes that intelligence and confidence must prevail for all these issues.
Contact ORAMA : Céline Fournier - tel: 01 44 31 10 90 & 06 87 61 80 48
Pascal Hurbault - tel: 01 44 31 16 25 & 06 72 42 06 36
“Produce more and better!”