The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine announces the draft Plant Doctor Act: prescribing specific pesticides requires a license.
Does the field really need a "plant doctor" to guide farmers on pesticide use and pest and disease control? The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine under the Council of Agriculture recently announced the draft "Plant Doctor Act," which proposes that holders of a plant doctor license and plant pest and disease technicians be the ones to specifically carry out field plant disease prevention and quarantine and to prescribe medication, in the hope of improving pesticide use in the field.
The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine stated that crops will inevitably suffer pest and disease damage during their growth process and must be treated with pesticides, but if farmers' pesticide application habits are poor, this may lead to excessively high pesticide residues in crops. "Especially for continuously harvested crops such as cherry tomatoes and eggplants, the pesticide residue problem is even more serious." Plant doctors are needed to step in and guide correct pesticide application.
Under the draft "Plant Doctor Act," specific drugs will in future require a prescription
At present, pesticide management relies almost entirely on the "pesticide management personnel" in pesticide stores. Pesticide management personnel who have completed a two-week pesticide management course and obtained a license are responsible for registering "who" bought "what pesticide," but they have no authority to issue prescriptions for plant medication.
According to the recently announced draft "Plant Doctor Act," in the future, holders of a plant doctor license and those with plant pest and disease technician qualifications will carry out work such as issuing prescriptions and diagnosing plant diseases; and students in departments of plant medicine or departments related to plant protection will also be able to assist in carrying out plant doctor business under the guidance of a plant doctor.
If the "Plant Doctor Act" passes smoothly, it is planned that the Ministry of Examination under the Examination Yuan will be responsible for holding the plant doctor examination, selecting "plant doctors" capable of treating plant diseases and symptoms and issuing prescriptions for plant medication.
"In the future, pesticide dosage may be managed under a dual-track system by 'plant doctors' and 'pesticide management personnel.'" Feng Haidong, deputy director-general of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, further explained that the "Pesticide Act" may be amended to stipulate that specific plant medications must be accompanied by "a prescription issued by a plant doctor" before they can be obtained from a pesticide store; and the pesticide management personnel in the pesticide store must dispense medication in accordance with the plant doctor's prescription and register it.
"But these are all back-end supporting discussions." Feng Haidong said that the pressing task is still to first promote the "Plant Doctor Act"; only if it passes smoothly will it be possible to discuss how the back-end supporting measures should be formulated.
