The decree which imposes schedules for the use of plant protection products on crops, in order to protect bees and other pollinating insects, was published this Sunday in the Official Journal.
If the product is authorized by ANSES (the National Food Safety Agency) for use during the flowering period, “the treatment must, except in special cases, be carried out within two hours before sunset and in three hours after sunset ”, according to the decree of the Ministry of Agriculture, the entry into force of which is set for January 1, 2022.
Essential for biodiversity
The flowering period refers to the period from the opening of the first flowers to the fall of the petals of the last flowers, specifies the text.
The publication comes the day after the presentation by the government of the main lines of the pollinator plan.
This plan was promised in 2020, after the government announced the temporary reintroduction of neonicotinoid insecticides for growing beets, insecticides that are extremely harmful to bees.
The pollinator plan aims to fight against the collapse of populations of pollinating insects, in particular bees, essential to biodiversity as to agricultural production, but vulnerable to pesticides.
But the time slots decided by the Ministry of Agriculture do not satisfy beekeepers.
Some exceptions all the same
"Two hours before sunset, without any other criteria, for us it is not acceptable", declared Eric Lelong, president of the Interprofession of beekeepers (Interapi).
The organization wanted the temperature criterion to be taken into account as well.
Thus, in July, two hours before sunset, “it's 25 degrees” and “the bees are still foraging”.
According to the decree, the time slot for the application of phytosanitary products (which belong to the pesticide family) can be modified in the event of “exclusively diurnal” activity of “pests and diseases” (living organisms which attack them. crops), to ensure “effective protection of the treated crop”.
Another exception: if a disease requires urgent use of a "fungicide treatment", within a period "incompatible with the period provided" in the order.
The decree "provides for transitional measures and a timetable for the implementation of these new provisions".
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