The German Horticultural Association ZVG renews its clear criticism of the European proposals for sustainable plant protection on the occasion of the hearing in the Committee for Food and Agriculture of the German Bundestag on plant protection on February 6, 2023.
“The requirements of the regulation are unrealistic and not reasonable for the companies. The reduction progress achieved so far in the quantities and risk of the use of plant protection products in German horticulture, and the exemplary implementation of Directive 2009/128 in Germany are not even remotely taken into account,” says ZVG Secretary General Bertram Fleischer.
The European Commission has meanwhile put compromise proposals on the table. The ZVG now calls on the Council and Parliament to look at sustainable plant protection in the coming negotiations. “Bans and a sole focus on biological and low-risk products will by far not be able to close the enormous gaps in crop protection options. Sustainable crop protection includes the entire toolbox of Integrated Pest Management, which must be strengthened, Fleischer said.
The ZVG calls for a balanced setting of feasible targets, consideration of the different conditions in the member states, and practicable targets for companies. The exemplary initiatives for biodiversity protection in Germany, such as in Baden-Württemberg, must be an example for measures at a national level.
Source: www.derdeutschegartenbau.de
