The Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, signed the authorizations for the emergency use of plant protection products for the treatment of corn and sunflower seeds. The use authorization will be valid until May 21, 2024, according to a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The use of plant protection products, approved by the Minister of Agriculture
“Sowing will be done only in areas and on surfaces heavily affected by the attack of soil pests, and corn seed treatment and sunflowers will be carried out only by authorized service providers, and the plots of land will be marked as such“, the statement states.
The Ministry of Agriculture mentions that Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009 allows the introduction of phytosanitary products on the market to combat soil pests.
At the same time, the ministry states that at the European level, 445 exemptions have been granted for the member states, since the beginning of this year, and has sent a centralization of the number of exemptions granted for each member state.
Thus, at the EU level, 445 emergency authorizations were granted for the use of plant protection products, between January 1, 2023 and November 16, 2023: France – 67 authorizations, Germany – 63 authorizations, Austria – 50, Italy – 41, Greece – 29, Spain – 28, Slovakia – 23 Norway – 19, Belgium – 16, Czech Republic and Latvia, 14 permits each, Finland and Sweden, 11 permits each, Denmark, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia, 7 permits each each, Luxembourg and Poland, 6 permits each, Netherlands – 5, Estonia – 4, Croatia – 3, Iceland and Bulgaria, 2 permits each, Cyprus, Ireland and Portugal, one permit each.
Plant protection products refer to pesticides used by farmers to protect their crops against pests and diseases. In the EU, sales of active substances used in plant protection products exceed 350,000 tonnes per year.
