Action Plan for Zero Growth in Pesticide and Fertilizer Use Officially Released
The heavy use of pesticides has brought farmers greater convenience, but it has also brought serious pollution to the environment. To reduce pesticide use, the Ministry of Agriculture's action plan for zero growth in pesticide and fertilizer use has been released.
On the afternoon of January 28, Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu chaired an executive meeting of the ministry, which reviewed and in principle approved the "Action Plan for Zero Growth in Pesticide Use," the "Action Plan for Zero Growth in Fertilizer Use," and the "Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Crop Pests and Diseases."
The Ministry of Agriculture emphasized that, with regard to fertilizers, it is necessary to vigorously promote soil testing and formulated fertilization, mechanized fertilization, and the application of organic fertilizers, and to strongly support new types of business entities and the development of appropriately scaled operations. With regard to pesticides, it is necessary to gradually phase out highly toxic and highly hazardous pesticides, comprehensively reduce the risks of use, vigorously advance unified pest control and specialized services, and study clean production and green production models. Communication and coordination must be strengthened, and policies on finance, insurance, and taxation must be actively sought to create conditions for the action of zero growth in fertilizer and pesticide use.
The meeting required a full understanding of the important significance of doing pest and disease prevention and control work in accordance with the law, relying on the law to standardize and guarantee scientific control and law-based control, and advancing unified pest control on a large scale.
In addition, the "Key Work Points for the Planting Industry in 2015," formulated and issued on the 16th by the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture, also clearly proposed reducing unreasonable fertilizer input, and striving to raise the fertilizer utilization rate of major crops to above 40% by 2020. It called for accelerating the application of new types of fertilizers such as high-efficiency slow-release fertilizers, water-soluble fertilizers, biological fertilizers, and soil conditioners. It also called for effectively controlling pesticide use, striving to achieve zero growth in the total amount of pesticides used on crops by 2020, advancing the replacement of highly toxic and high-residue pesticides with high-efficiency, low-toxicity, low-residue pesticides and the replacement of low-efficiency small spraying equipment with high-efficiency medium and large spraying equipment, and expanding the scope of pilot subsidy programs for low-toxicity biological pesticides.