Elisabeth Borne announced on Monday February 27 “a development plan for alternatives for the most important phytosanitary products”assuring farmers of state support and saying that there is no question of “repeat the mistakes of chlordecone”. “In concrete terms, this means seeking to identify new uses, new tools and new products to better protect crops – while preserving our biodiversity”said the Prime Minister visiting the International Agricultural Show.
The head of government thus delivers the first tracks of a plan announced on Saturday by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, which aims to coordinate the action of France with that of the European Union to offer “visibility” to farmers about the products that will be authorized or prohibited in their fields.
Elisabeth Borne called on her Ministers of Agriculture (Marc Fesneau), Ecological Transition (Christophe Béchu) and Research (Sylvie Retailleau) to “present a new national strategy” on phytosanitary products “by summer”. “This new Ecophyto 2030 plan will be built with all the players involved, first and foremost farmers. Its resources will be increased.she assured, without advancing figures.
“The European framework and nothing but the European framework”
“I want to be clear: in terms of phytosanitary products, we will now respect the European framework and nothing but the European framework”she developed, while in recent years France has chosen to ban certain substances that are harmful to the environment, but which were still authorized within the European Union. “We will not create any regulatory distortion for our producers, except in cases of force majeure, when public health is threatened”she added.
“Our approach is based on science and the opinions of scientists. This is the method we apply to all products. The other cardinal point is that we do not compromise with public health. Nobody here wants to repeat the mistakes of chlordecone”she underlined in reference to the powerful pesticide used until 1993 in the French banana plantations of the Antilles and at the origin of many cancers.
The Prime Minister asked that all the substances being re-examined with a view to renewing their marketing authorization be identified, in order to know those who are most at risk [de sortir du marché, NDLR] In the coming years “. “Then we need to develop alternatives, chemical and non-chemical, that are credible and effective. I insist on this point, because we can no longer be solely in the simple substitution of one chemical solution by another”did she say.
Reassure farmers
This plan aims to reassure farmers, who have seen the range of authorized pesticides (insecticides, fungicides or herbicides) shrink in recent years, leaving them in the« impasse ».
In January, the government had to give up authorizing the use of neonicotinoids, pesticides toxic to bees, on beet seeds, following a decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The producers had strongly protested, claiming to find themselves without any solution to protect their sugar beets against a possible viral attack of jaundice, recalling that this disease had destroyed nearly a third of the French harvest in 2020.
On February 15, the French Health Security Agency (Anses) also announced its intention to ban the main uses of S-metolachlor, a herbicide widely used in France, the chemical derivatives of which have been found in water above beyond the permitted limits.