The planters of beet alert for several weeks on the situation of the sugar industry, destitute, according to them, in the face of the green aphids.
The government wants to allow growers of sugar beets to use, “under conditions strictly controlled”, an insecticide banned since 2018 in order to protect their crops of green aphids, vectors of virus yellows.
The government plans to obtain “a legislative amendment this fall”, introducing a derogation to the maximum until 2023, within the framework of a support plan for the sector, announced the ministry of Agriculture on Thursday, in a press release.
The planters of beet alert for several weeks on the situation of the sugar industry, destitute, according to them, in the face of the green aphids, almost without fail, the vectors of the jaundice viral which is collapsing yields.
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The union specialized CGB), affiliated to the FNSEA, had warned that France would not produce this year, “600 000 to 800 000 tons of sugar” due to the lack of a solution to the jaundice viral. The harvest is planned for this fall. Supported by local elected officials and national, the union requested an exemption to use neonicotinoids in order to protect the seed. These insecticides, which attack the nervous system of insects, and therefore, pollinators such as bees, were banned from all-purpose plant in September 2018.
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“Emergency act”
The department explains that the “legislative change” question must “allow explicitly for the campaign, 2021 and, if applicable, the two following campaigns at the most”, to derogate from the prohibition to coat the seeds of the insecticidal product, “under conditions strictly supervised” and “as do other european countries face the same difficulties”.
A “european regulation permits, provided that such action is necessary because of a danger which cannot be contained by other reasonable means”, it was specified. There was “urgency to act”, according to the ministry. “This crisis of jaundice weakens the sugar sector as a whole and creates the risk of abandonment of the beet in 2021 by the farmers in favour of other crops. But France is the first producer of sugar in europe. The sector relates to 46,000 jobs, of which 25.000 farmers and 21 candies.”
The ministry of Agriculture indicates that the measure is part of a “plan of action” more global, aimed to “secure the plantations, the supply of sweets and therefore the maintenance of a sugar industry strong and competitive in France, while limiting the impact on pollinators”.
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It also aims to mobilize “as of 2021 within the framework of the recovery plan is” five million additional euros for research funding “of alternatives truly effective” to the neonicotinoids, but also to compensate the farmers who have saved in 2020 of the “major losses due to this crisis in the jaundice of the beet”.
