Interview Carlos Nyenhuis
'It is still uncertain what will happen to Mancozeb'
What about the renewal of the registration of fungicidal agent Mancozeb? Carlos Nijenhuis, the chairman of Nefyto, the trade association for the producers of plant protection products, states that the matter is still uncertain, partly because the product is widely used in all European member states.
During the annual conference of Nefyto on Thursday 12 December, Nijenhuis spoke about the fact that the use of green resources is increasing. How does he view the disappearance of agents and the future of the crop protection sector?
The European Parliament's Environment Committee (ENVI) expressed its opinion recent negative about the renewal of Mancozeb's registration. Do you think the drug will be banned?
"Mancozeb is widely used in agriculture; in the Netherlands in potatoes, onions, tulips and lilies as a fungicide. However, in almost all other European Member States the agent is also important in large crops. In France, for example, the agent is important in viticulture. It is therefore difficult and very complex to predict whether there will be an extension of the registration."
In addition to Mancozeb and Chlorpropham, agents such as Desmedifam and Diquat are also at risk. Is that worrisome?
"It is clear that problems arise for certain crops, but alternatives are also being developed. These alternatives are not always equally equivalent, otherwise they would have been in use for longer. However, the agricultural sector has always proven that solutions can be found. There is also a lot of investment in new products, although large companies are becoming more cautious (due to the strict and variable authorization policy in Europe), so that they try the new products on other continents first, so that Europe is no longer in first place. And that can create competitive differences."
Green resources seem to be the future. Are your supporters also investing heavily in this?
"Yes, if we can choose, we will invest in green resources. This is because the market demands them. Green resources are now also being developed in abundance. As was apparent during my speech at our annual conference, the use of green resources has increased significantly. In 2008 the use was still 6%, but in 2018 it was 12%. That is a doubling in 10 years and a good performance by both industry and farmers. So there is growth, but it is not going fast enough."
It is often said that the assessment framework for green resources is not good. Is there anything concrete about that?
"It is good in itself that green products are assessed in the same way as chemical products. That makes sense, because these products are not always less toxic. But once the risk assessment (Annex 1) has been done, local authorization should be possible more quickly. This has been going on for some time, but there is still little progress. Green products (with the exception of herbicides) generally have a good effect. Nor am I afraid that these products will be banned in the long term. They must meet certain conditions, just like chemical products. The disappearance of a number of chemical agents has nothing to do with the toxicity of the agents, but with increasingly strict regulations."
During the farmers' protests, crop protection was also an issue, but this has faded into the background due to the nitrogen problem. Do you not want more attention for crop protection?
"No, a lot of attention among the general public does not make you any better. We do support the farmers. importance of plant protection products."
The Green Deal discussed a drastic chemical reduction and the promotion of organic farming. Will that cause a lot of damage to the sector?
"No, we are not against less chemicals. We offer solutions to protect the plant. While sales of chemicals are falling, sales of biologicals are increasing. Although the total sales volumes are now falling, I expect that they will increase in the coming period. This is because you need more volume for biological products to function properly Also, our turnover will not decrease because the price of the remaining products increases, which is not due to profitability, but to development costs of these resources, because it is becoming increasingly difficult to get resources on the market."
The conference discussed the influence of import tolerances on cultivation and international trade. Keimpe van der Heide (Dutch Agricultural Union) and fruit grower John Kusters spoke about equal treatment of homegrown and imported products. "It cannot be the case that products come onto the market from abroad with much higher MRL tolerances than the tolerances on products that we produce ourselves", they stated.
Anne-Jan Doorn
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