Pesticide fipronil to be banned starting next year, red bean farmers urgently seek alternative agents
This year, Fifty Lan and UK Blue have successively been reported to have tea leaves containing the pesticide "fipronil." Because the residue breaks down slowly, the Council of Agriculture will ban fipronil water suspension concentrate starting next year. However, fipronil is also the main control agent for thrips, an important insect pest of adzuki beans. After the Council of Agriculture banned it, no alternative agent has yet been announced, leaving farmers anxious with no way to act. The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine of the Council of Agriculture said it will announce the latest alternative pesticide as soon as next month, hoping it will be in time for use in this crop season.
Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine to announce new pesticide as soon as next month
However, while the Council of Agriculture banned fipronil, it did not propose an alternative pesticide. Although this year's ban has not yet taken effect, the adzuki bean harvest period is January next year, and farmers worry about whether detection of fipronil would be illegal. Now is exactly the adzuki bean sowing season, and in another month they will have to face thrips damage. The Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, as well as the Wandan Farmers' Association and Meinong Farmers' Association, have successively received feedback from farmers, hoping that new alternative pesticides will be announced as soon as possible.
Huang Dechang, director of the Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, said that not every farmer can go organic and use no pesticides. At present, most are being guided to use two other pesticides, but the control effect is not as good as fipronil. Although announcing a new pesticide requires procedures such as setting residue standards, which is not easy, he still hopes the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine will announce usable new pesticides as soon as possible. Otherwise, farmers will not know what to follow, and sometimes they have no choice but to use pesticides indiscriminately.
The extension section of the Wandan Farmers' Association said that thrips require joint control. If one person does not control them, neighboring fields will also suffer. At present, they can only follow the Council of Agriculture's regulations, open relevant courses, and guide farmers to switch to other pesticides. The Meinong Farmers' Association had previously sent a document asking whether new pesticides could be provided, but has not yet received a reply.
In response to farmers' repeated calls, Feng Haidong, deputy director-general of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said it will announce new alternative pesticides as soon as next month, including "spirotetramat" and other pesticides against aphids and small insects. At present, the control effect looks good, and he hopes it will be in time for use in this crop season.
He also specifically explained that the residue standard for fipronil has not been removed, so farmers need not worry that using it this year will be detected as violating regulations next year.
Farmers consider adopting alternative agents
Besides pesticides, the Council of Agriculture has also studied using the natural enemy of thrips, the "Orius strigicollis" (minute pirate bug), for control. However, Huang Dechang said that at present there are still almost no biological control materials available to control thrips.
If fipronil is sprayed correctly and stopped 21 days before harvest, it should not exceed the standard. But the same adzuki bean plant flowers three times, and the pod-setting speed also differs. Therefore, if one is not careful and too much fipronil is sprayed on the later flowers, it may cause pesticide residues in the earlier pods to exceed the standard. The Meinong Farmers' Association guided contract farmers to switch to other pesticides for this reason 2 or 3 years ago, but most other farmers are still accustomed to using fipronil. This ban may be a turning point. Zhong Yalun, head of the extension section, said that if the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine can provide other alternative agents, that would be best.
A farmer surnamed Liu in Pingtung said helplessly that this year every farmer is asking what pesticide to use. The adzuki bean industry is small, and pesticide companies are unwilling to spend registration fees, resulting in very few usable pesticides. Now there are only 28 days left before flowering. The Council of Agriculture should quickly announce usable new pesticides and send them to every pesticide store. Otherwise, farmers will have no way out and will listen to pesticide stores' recommendations and spray indiscriminately. "I hope the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine does not harm people. At least open 8 pesticides for rotation to avoid resistance."
A farmer surnamed Wu in Wandan said he had already switched to other pesticides, but if the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine has new pesticides, he can consider looking into them. Liu Shiming also switched 4 or 5 years ago to a self-mixed bacterial preparation to control thrips. The effect was good, and he even applied for traceability certification. However, he said adzuki beans are not a bulk commodity, and even if he works hard to achieve no pesticide residues, they are still very hard to sell.