*Official responds to pesticide management concerns* Vientiane Times, 22 Jan 2015 The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has worked hard to regulate the legal distribution and use of pesticides, but illegal channels for chemical imports still remain, according an official from the ministry. The ministrys Department of Agriculture Deputy Director General Mr Kham Sanataem made the comment when speaking with Vientiane Times yesterday about the issue. The issue was among public concerns which have been raised through the National Assembly hotline in recent years with it being most widespread in northern provinces. Such a concern was raised by a resident from Bokeo province through the NA hotline during the recent ordinary session, accusing a banana farm run by Chinese investors as being the source of chemical substances damaging his crops and killing the fish in his pond . The deputy director general responded separately to the concern through the media last week. He also explained the use of chemicals and their management. “We have law and other related regulations on chemical management,” Mr Kham said. One of the regulations is the Control of Pesticides in the Lao PDR issued by the ministry last year. Mr Kham explained the procedure of chemical import authorisation, saying importers had to ask for permission from the department and other related departments under the ministry. “We have to check whether the kinds of pesticide requested for import are on the list of those ones banned for import and use before giving permission,” Mr Kham said. However, he said, the ministrys departments only had responsibility for issuing import permits, while the responsibility of the actual inspection and control of the chemicals imported and their use was up to local authorities in accordance with the implementation of the Sam Sang (Three Builds) directive. He admitted illegal importers of pesticides had found ways to hide the goods among legal imports and that customs officials could not inspect every single item crossing border checkpoints. In this regard, he said, punishment for the offences was also under consideration of local authorities. There are 55 kinds of pesticides included on the banned list in Laos. Some of them are them are in the methomyl group which includes Lannate, Henry and Laminat. Others are in the paraquat group which includes Gramoxone, Daraxon and Yibahoo.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 04:34:19 +0000
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