Pesticide management loopholes let counterfeit and substandard drugs run rampant; the Council of Agriculture promises the new draft of the "Plant Doctor Act" will be completed this month
Recently, pesticide applications, openings and the setting of backend residue limits have all stirred up controversy, but some in the trade admit that the most basic level of pesticide retail management also has quite a few loopholes, including under-the-table license swaps, recommendations of counterfeit drugs and inferior drugs, and weak regulation and enforcement, all of which have made the problem of mixed pesticide use in Taiwan, China severe, with per-unit-area usage ranking among the highest in the world; given the diversity of agricultural produce, pests and diseases are even harder to resolve.
For this reason, scholars have repeatedly suggested that the Council of Agriculture should implement the Plant Physician Act, using the expertise of plant physicians to improve field medication practices, so as to fundamentally solve the problem of abuse. After the Plant Physician Act was announced last year, the Council of Agriculture also promised that the new draft would complete administrative procedures within one to two months.
Loopholes in pesticide retail? Dealers: counterfeit and inferior drugs flooding the market is the real issue
What exactly is wrong with pesticide retail? A supplier surnamed Liao, whose family runs a pesticide shop, said that in fact the most common problem at pesticide shops is not the opening of new drugs as everyone says, because these generic new drugs have a certain efficacy, and although the price is not low they still have loyal users; but pesticide dealers, out of profit considerations, often first offer discounts on generic formulations to attract farmers, and after gaining their trust, separately recommend several inferior drugs of unknown origin and poor quality, or even counterfeit drugs, for farmers to use. The applicators do not know what exactly they have in hand, and the result of haphazardly mixing them together is that pests and diseases cannot be resolved, so next time they simply have to buy even more doses.
Not only that, the supplier surnamed Liao also pointed out that selling pesticides requires obtaining a certificate, but local agriculture bureaus and offices usually are short-staffed, and often appear passive in inspecting expired licenses and counterfeit or inferior drugs; behavior like "A using B's certificate" to sell drugs, this kind of "shady" practice, is not unheard of either; the vicious cycle caused by price-cutting competition has not only distorted the pesticide retail system, but also caused fields to be poisoned by bad pesticides.
Even with a prescription issued by a plant physician, farmers may still get counterfeit or inferior drugs. A good plant physician should regard pesticide application as one of the means of prevention and control, not only understanding the treatments for various plant diseases and prescribing the right medicine, but also considering farmers' incomes, and should be able to understand and offer concrete suggestions from the soil of production to the fruit before final sale.
Tseng Te-tzu: Plant physicians can solve the problems of pesticide registration and application management
Plant pathology authority and honorary distinguished professor of the Department of Plant Pathology at National Chung Hsing University, Tseng Te-tzu, likewise believes that "pesticide is the last resort." For example, downy mildew will strike under high-humidity conditions; as long as ventilation and biological control are done well, disease is not likely. And people have doctors, animals have veterinarians, but when plants get sick there is no professional physician to consult, leading farmers to trust what pesticide shops say and abuse pesticides, yet never be able to prescribe the right medicine. Therefore "plant physicians" are very important; once the system is complete, their expertise can be used to solve the chronic problems of pesticide registration and application management.
Homemakers United Foundation's Chang Ming-chun: BAPHIQ's attitude toward promoting the Plant Physician Act is passive
However, Chang Ming-chun, chair of the Taichung branch of the Homemakers United Foundation, who participated in meetings on the draft Plant Physician Act, believes that BAPHIQ appears passive in promoting the bill.
Even though she pointed out that the general public simply does not understand pesticide application and easily feels panic over the government's opening policies, while farmers cannot possibly use no drugs at all. Under this premise, having plant physicians recommend reasonable medication to farmers can also shoulder the obligation of policy education and explanation, which is beneficial to the public, the trade and the government alike, and can also resolve the mixing of multiple pesticides; it is a system that should have been promoted long ago. But BAPHIQ Director-General Huang Chang said to her that the current pesticide management personnel system is already "very strict," and that the plant physicians trained would have difficulty entering the public service system, with no corresponding government channel, so the phenomenon of loopholes everywhere in pesticide retail would be hard to change.
BAPHIQ Director-General Huang Chang: The current pesticide management system is already very complete
Regarding suggestions from all sides, BAPHIQ Director-General Huang Chang emphasized that current regulations require each pesticide shop to have at least one pesticide management personnel who has taken a two-week pesticide management course and obtained a license; after receiving the license they must also return for periodic training, and must complete 40 credits within five years for the license to be extended, and there is now also a "Pesticide Registration Management System"; dealers must register online to whom pesticides are sold and where they are used, and if they fail to do so they will be fined NT$30,000 to NT$150,000 under the Pesticide Management Act. The system is already very complete.
Feng Hai-tung: The draft Plant Physician Act will be revised; plant physicians can undertake commissions from public agencies
As for the promotion of the Plant Physician Act, BAPHIQ Deputy Director-General Feng Hai-tung believes that, under conditions where grass-roots pesticide use control is not comprehensive and the opening of new pesticides has sparked controversy, having plant physicians supervise medication would be a more appropriate path; he also said that in the future the Council of Agriculture's internal draft will define plant physicians as "full-time technical personnel accepting commissions from public agencies," and after obtaining physician qualifications they can undertake labor commissions from relevant departments, while prescriptions issued by physicians will have "a certain" effect, and plant physicians can also open clinics to promote professional services.
Feng Hai-tung further stated that there are currently hundreds of thousands of farmers, while the number of interns at various schools is not yet enough to support this system; therefore BAPHIQ's attitude is that after collecting opinions from all sides, it will first establish this professional system of plant physicians, and after the bill is sent to the Legislative Yuan and passes three readings, the industry can implement it accordingly.