Cambodia debates draft law on pesticides and agricultural inputs in 2010

Cambodia debates draft law on pesticides and agricultural inputs

Chhorng Long Heng

Cambodia’s ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries on July 14 started debating publicly the law on pesticides and agricultural inputs in a move to manage the pesticides in the country after the local farmers have used it widely in growing the agricultural crops, and protecting the people’s health and environmental sustainability“This law aims at regulating the management, the standard requirement, the trade and the use services of pesticide and agricultural inputs in the country,” Dr. H.E Chan Sarun, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries said in his opening remark at consultative seminar of the law in Phnom Penh .


“This law also is to support the national agricultural sector policy in enhancing the potential of agricultural products and ensure effective control of pesticide and agricultural inputs, and enhance public awareness in the application of standard requirements in the trade, the use services and handling of pesticides and agricultural inputs with safety, to protect interest of farmers in agricultural product and other relevant users with ensuring food security, public health and sustainable agro-ecosystem,” Dr. Chan Sarun added.

“This law will apply to all types of pesticides, fertilizers, animal feeds and additives and veterinary medicines as well as raw material used as composition and active ingredients formulation of these products. All activities by the physical person and legal persons relating to all types of trade in pesticides and agricultural inputs, pesticide use services, commercial advertisement donation, disposal, destruction of pesticides and agricultural inputs in the country,” He highlighted in the seminar.

He said that traditional pesticides of agricultural inputs produced by farmers through formulation of natural substances for using in household agricultural production or for non-commercial or non- use services purpose shall be determine by a particularly sub –decree.

“In Cambodia, pesticide and agricultural inputs are supportive sources that have been using in growing agricultural crops for boosting productivity and enhancing quantity and quality in agricultural sector,” he said, adding that developing countries has been using pesticide and chemical fertilizers to promote quantity of agricultural products but at the same time, when farmer used these risk substances without consideration and it turned to destroy health, and environment. He noted that we have experience to use pesticide and agricultural inputs since 1950s for supporting to grow rice and other agricultural crops, and it was provided by the donor at that time.

In 1998, we set up the rules of controlling the agricultural materials even though it has still some negative factors for agricultural materials flowing from neighboring countries illegally and processed freely at markets without quality, both information labeled in foreign language and local farmers have not understood. In 2009, we conducted the research on using pesticides in country.

The figure showed that chemical fertilizers on markets registered with ministry about 33 per cent and 14 per cent of chemical fertilizers wrote in Khmer, and pesticides of 12 per cent registered with ministry, and 2 of pesticides wrote in Khmer. At that same time, 87 per cent of pesticides did not register and 5 of them banned using by ministry and 6 per cent banned by world health organization. Only 13 per cent of those banned pesticides wrote in Khmer. “We want the pesticides and agricultural inputs to label in Khmer, therefore local farmers could use them properly to avoid destroying their health and using them at standard in growing agricultural crops,” the minister noted. He added the figure also shows that in the country, pesticide and agricultural inputs have used widely in Kandal province, which was known because local farmer has grown agricultural crops to supply Phnom Penh .

We also will become signatory member of Rotterdam Convention in purpose of protection of flowing pesticide and chemical fertilizers with high risk and violated the international law. The main reason, we do not want to turn our country into waste store and a place of testing pesticides and other chemicals in agricultural sector that contained high risk and prohibition. We have to continuously educate our farmers about danger of pesticides, and urge them to use with standard,” he said, adding that we also thanked to development partners like FAO and JICA and NGO Forum that contributed in draft law.

“It will also review and assess the completion of standard requirements at pre-registration for trade of pesticides and agricultural inputs and the pesticide use services, and to verify the guaranteed analysis of pesticide and agricultural inputs at a laboratory and to undertake bio-efficacy trial in a field in order to define the data for the assessment of the registration application,” article 6 of draft law said, adding that It will designate inspection agents of pesticide and agricultural inputs in order to monitor, to control and to undertake enforcement measures to all trade and use service activities and the application of standard requirement of all pesticide agricultural inputs, and to conduct international cooperation and play role as the national focal institution, responsible for leading and implementing relevant obligations under international conventions or agreements on pesticide and agro-chemicals, to perform other task within the jurisdiction of management of pesticide and agricultural inputs in accordance with law.

“The government will establish the national council for pesticide which shall be led by the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, with the department of agricultural legislation of the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries serving as its secretariat. The national council will define, monitor, assess the implementation of national policies and strategies for the management of pesticides, and provide recommendation to the government on the signification of pesticide related international convention and agreements, and decide on the proposed classification and list of pesticide in country, the organization and functioning of the national council for pesticide shall be determined by a sub-decree,” the article 7 of the draft law reporteArticle 91 said that it shall be penalized to imprison from 6 months to three years and impose fine from 5,000 dollars to 10,000 US dollars to revoke all relevant permits as well as to confiscate or destroy evidences to an offender who commits any offences like behaving activities in manufacturing, formulating repackaging agricultural inputs without a technical standard or using raw materials as genetically modified organisms and as chemicals promoting unusual growth to all types of crops or animals, trading counterfeit agricultural inputs or its guaranteed analysis of nutrient substances or its composition, differing from the confirmation on the labels or which contradicts the affirmation during registration, trading agricultural inputs by adding or taking out any ingredients from a container, which differing from the original standard from manufacturing or which contradicts affirmation during registration, trading counterfeit agricultural inputs or ex-standard agricultural inputs, a counterfeit container, a counterfeit Khmer label, a counterfeit registration number on the container.

In case of recidivism, it shall be penalized in double and shall repair the damages or shall impose a civil compensatory, in case an offense causes hazard to health, damage to the environment and damage to properties either within a private or public framework. The law has 12 chapters containing 100 articles. After publicly debating this time, it will hand over to the national assembly to approve soon and the views and ideas from debating will be input to establish law firmly,” Dr Chan Sarun noted.

Chit Sam Ath, head of NGO Forum said at the event that 85 per cent of Cambodians are farmers. After we observed for 10 years, we found that the pesticides and agricultural inputs created communicable illnesses to local farmers and destroyed people’s health and it has threatened the agricultural system in the country. We believed that we have to join together to share economic ad social benefits with equity for using natural resources for substantiality,” he said, noting that reducing and managing pesticides in agricultural sector strictly will contribute enhancing to increase agricultural product effectively. #