By Nneka Nwogwugwu
African food producers have reacted to fears of being excluded from the single market and left with no alternatives to protect their crops after the EU’s tight line on import tolerances for pesticide substances.
Under its flagship food policy, the Farm to Fork Strategy, the EU has committed to taking into account environmental aspects when assessing requests for import tolerances for pesticide substances no longer approved in the bloc, while respecting WTO standards and obligations.
Therefore, the Commission’s priority will be given to environmental issues of global concern that go beyond national boundaries.
As explained by a Commission official, this means in practice that the same EU legislation setting maximum residue levels – including also import tolerances – applies to all food whether domestically produced or imported regardless of the country of origin of the food.
Apart from the environmental grounds, such a move is also intended to meet the request from European food producers, who have asked, in order to remain competitive, that imported products should meet the same environmental standards they have to comply with under the Green Deal.
The new stance on pesticide residues has implications on African farmers who believe the requirement to meet these targets if they want to sell their products to Europe could become a major hurdle to trade.
“The situation is very sensitive and we cannot run away from it,” the CEO of Kenya’s Fresh Produce Consortium, Okisegere Ojepat, told EURACTIV.
As the African continent is largely in the tropical zone, local farmers are quite exposed to plant pests. East Africa last year experienced the worst locust plague in decades, with the Horn of Africa invaded by swarms of insects that destroyed entire crop harvests.
According to Ojepat, the EU is pushing Africa to implement their own specific targets without offering sufficient alternatives.
“[The EU] is saying ‘close that door’ without showing our people where the exit door is, while they should be able to offer solutions and alternatives that work equivalent,” he complained.
Source: EURACTV