Paris (AFP)
This plan was promised by the government when it announced in August 2020 the temporary reintroduction of neonicotinoid insecticides, described as "bee killers", for the cultivation of beet.
It was put for consultation at the end of June.
It aims to treat all the factors threatening pollinators and intervenes when the collapse of populations of pollinating insects threatens agricultural production.
In France, 70% of crops depend on pollination.
According to Christian Pons, this plan should be "soon" unveiled.
But beekeepers do not deem it sufficient to halt the decline of pollinators.
The plan provides in particular to assess the risk of all pesticides, including herbicides and fungicides, for pollinators with a view to a possible restriction, or even ban, of treatment on attractive flowering crops, currently applicable only to insecticides, according to the text submitted for consultation in June.
Treatments should take place within specific time slots, two hours before sunset and three hours after, but with exceptions.
"We asked that it be two hours after sunset" and taking into account the temperatures because "a bee or a wild pollinator can leave its hive at any time as long as there is a temperature above 11 -12 ° C ", indicates Christian Pons.
Farmers would always have the possibility of treating with products bearing the mention + bees + which are supposed, during their application, not to poison these insects.
For Unaf, this mention is not clear enough.
"We ask for a pictogram + prohibited during the foraging", indicates Christian Pons.
"We were received 10 days ago at the Ministry of Ecological Transition. We requested an appointment at the Ministry of Agriculture, no answer," further criticizes the president of Unaf, who wonders: "Who is the boss, the FNSEA (agricultural federation) or the ministry?"
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