EU Pesticide
Rules May Force Out Small African Farmers
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38370
IPS Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS).
http://allafrica.com/stories/200706290877.html
http://www.industrywatch.com/pages/iw2/Story.nsp?story_id=107914403&ID=iw&scategory=Food%3AProduce&P=&F=&R=&VNC=hnall
Industry Watch
All Africa Global Media, 2007-06-29
EU Pesticide Rules May Force Out Small African Farmers
Inter Press Service News (Johannesburg)
29 June 2007
Sue Scott
YORK, UK, Jun 29 (IPS) - African farmers could soon find themselves forced
out of the lucrative European market for agricultural products as retailers and
government move towards a zero tolerance policy on chemical residues in food.
Lack of investment by chemical companies and poor consultation with
exporters has been blamed for creating a situation described by the
horticultural trade network Coleacp as a "big
concern" for African,
Already there are signs that those growing for retailer-led certification
schemes, which set their own gold-plated standards for good agricultural
practice, including crop protection measures, are pulling out of the premium
export market because the additional costs of compliance are not reflected in
the price of their crops.
As many as 50 percent of Ugandan growers and 15 percent of Zambian farmers
have fallen out of the largest retailer-backed scheme, according to a new study
conducted by the London-based International Institute for Environment and
Development.
Pressure will only increase as Sainsbury, the third largest food chain in
the
Now, the European Commission (EC) is close to completing a new set of
maximum residue limits (MRLs) for all products
imported into the EU, with those limits for some minor exotic crops likely to
be pegged at "theoretical zero" -- or so low as to be undetectable --
leading to what one UK importer termed as an inevitable "reshuffling"
of the supply base.
"I'm sure that during 2008 importers will be reviewing sources of
supply and finding out what MRLs are likely to apply.
It could mean they don't use certain sources or modify the seasons (when they
buy from them). Tropical fruit will be the worst affected," said Gary
Bradbury of W Bailey & Sons Ltd, who chairs the UK's Fresh Produce
Consortium pesticide group.
"There are going to be significant issues. It depends whether
exporting countries will have got their acts together sufficiently quickly to
have alternative methods and materials in place," he told IPS.
MRLs are not set at the limit of safe
human consumption, but several thousand times lower. Nevertheless, exceeding
them carries heavy penalties for the importer and usually immediate delisting
of the supplier -- a risk that many might prefer to avoid by switching to
markets where less onerous rules apply, notably the
Establishing a MRL is a costly process, which, according to Roland Levy of
the Coleacp-implemented Pesticide Initiative Programme, many plant protection companies have sought to
avoid.
"The African market for pesticide manufacturers is 0.5 percent of
their annual turnover. It's peanuts and they do not
expect a return from it. So we have no MRLs on
mangos, papaya, passion fruit or okra," he claimed.
Insiders admit that the current review of MRLs,
part of the EC's holy grail of harmonisation between
member states, is, as one major exporter put it, "a mess", but with
the EC sticking to its timetable for a "one nation" approach by early
2008, it's unclear just how much of the 332,000 metric tonnes
of produce exported annually by ACP countries will find its way into the EU
after next year.
"MRLs are a nightmare. The EU has
effectively ducked harmonisation and are waiting for
member states or transnational retailers to unilaterally declare the 0.01
(theoretical zero) level," the exporter told IPS on condition of
anonymity. "In a few years' time, the EU can wade in and 'harmonise' after the blood has been shed by the
retailers."
He said that German retailers' "knee-jerk" reaction had an
immediate impact on rural poverty in third countries. "It's a mess and no
one comes out well."
Key to producers' ability to meet the new limits was access to affordable
testing laboratories, he said. Some exporters reported they were under pressure
from retailers to bear the cost of testing in the west, where it can work out
14 times more expensive.
"Many laboratories cannot test to 0.01 and in third countries this is
worse. Where is the investment in suitably qualified labs, locally accessible,
at a price that can be accepted?" the exporter continued.
"I wholly support the drive towards less pesticides,
more integrated pest management and a cleaner product, but the whole process at
the moment is highly charged and has elements of WTO, anti-corporate,
anti-global, food miles and natural resources," he said.
The recent Institute of International Development study into the impact of EurepGap, the biggest, European retailer-backed
certification scheme, which works with 100,000 producers in 80 countries on
holdings as small as one hectare, showed that while growers and their
communities benefited from "soft technology", such as training in
biological pest control, the cost of compliance was still a major issue.
Senior researcher James MacGregor said the
surprisingly high drop-out rates in
Nigel Garbutt, the UK-based chairman of EurepGap, which represents 31 global retailers, said
promoting adoption of more environmentally friendly farming had to be good for
developing countries.
"With fewer active ingredients, it's important that producers are less
reliant on active chemicals and more aware of the alternatives. So in the
future they are not faced with problems of resistance. That's not really
something the regulators can do. That's something that has to be trained
in," he continued.
"We work very much with the public and private sectors to develop a
multi-stakeholder approach. It may lead to certification, but sometimes not.
What's interesting is the support we are getting from national governments in
developing countries to develop public-private partnerships for their own home
markets," said Garbutt. (END/2007)
Thomas R. DeGregori, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Houston
Department of Economics
204 McElhinney Hall
Houston, Texas 77204-5019
Ph. 001 - 1 - 713 743-3838
Fax 001 - 1 - 713 743-3798
Email trdegreg@uh.edu
Web homepage http://www.uh.edu/~trdegreg