Accused of ecological decline on pesticides, the government repeats the reduction objective

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: Alain JOCARD / AFP 4:17 p.m., February 4, 2024

The reduction in pesticides is "a trajectory on which we will not return" and it is "out of the question that there will be a decline which threatens health or biodiversity", assured Sunday the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu. “It was not said that we were stopping the Ecophyto plan. It was said that we were putting it on hold until the Agricultural Show,” declared the minister to the Grand Jury-RTL-M6, some days after the Prime Minister's announcements to calm the anger of farmers.

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"Is a break a step backwards? No, a break is a break", insisted Christophe Béchu, while the pause of the Ecophyto plan decreed by Gabriel Attal aroused the concern of associations and elected environmentalists. “There are concerns and legitimate concerns that I understand” but “it was not said that we were stopping the Ecophyto plan,” declared the minister, who reiterated the objective of reducing pesticides by 50%. by 2030, with the credo of no ban without alternative solution.

The “reduction of pesticides for the future is a trajectory on which we are committed and on which we will not return”, underlined Christophe Béchu. “The break is not going backwards,” assured at the same time the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, on LCI.

“We need to restore consistency in the indicators”

According to the ministers, the break will make it possible to redefine the indicator for measuring the use of pesticides, which promises to be a major battle over the next three weeks, between now and the start of the Agricultural Show (February 24) , the deadline requested by protesting farmers to see several announcements come to fruition. “We need to restore consistency in the indicators because those who make efforts are rated less well than those who do not,” said Marc Fesneau. Why keep “our little French indicator” when a “European indicator is being built?”

According to Christophe Béchu, the most dangerous pesticides, CMR-1, have "decreased by 96% over the last five years" in France, and the French indicator, Nodu, does not "lead us to realize this because we continue to look at pesticides not in terms of their risks but at pesticides in general.”

The Minister of Ecological Transition made particular reference to the HRI1 indicator (harmonized risk indicator) which already exists at European level, while "today it is rather the QSA (quantity of active substance) or the Nodu (number of unit doses) which are more highlighted".