 Well hello there and welcome to the program agriculture on the move I am Philip Sidney your host today we are discussing pesticide use and when we say pesticide it's the broad umbrella that comes with insecticides, fungicides, weedicides, molocicides, rodenticides all of them falls under the broad name pesticides and of course it's important we come to you every year maybe twice a year to remind you of the use of pesticides they are dangerous so we need to update you and keep you informed as far as the use of pesticides are concerned with me today Mr. Clitters Alexander is a crop protection officer in the Ministry of Agriculture welcome to the program brother. Good afternoon and thanks for having me this afternoon. Thank you for being here I know you're busy but my my my comrade I know you have so much to do but I'm happy you know you come here time and time again to really give some information to the public because we they need to know you know because when you deal dealing with pesticides we know they are hazards and we need we need to know how to deal with them but what are the major concerns with pesticide use in St. Lucia? Pesticide use is a major concern in St. Lucia you have a number of farmers who cannot read the pesticide read and understand the pesticide label you have a number of farmers using pesticides on the wrong crop you have a number of the retail's agribusiness places selling the wrong pesticide to the farmer you have some other agribusiness places selling pesticides with the wrong label we have agribusiness places selling pesticides whereby it is not sold in the recommended way it is not properly but I'd say if you go by the market for example you see a number of persons selling pesticides with no label no active ingredient when you buy the pesticide on whatever package there's no active ingredient and so on your pesticide even after you have used the pesticide disposal of the pesticide container when you go out in the field you see pesticide containers probably that we use decades ago after you plow the soil you still see those empty containers on the pesticide so it's a whole issue of from registration to disposal of the pesticide a whole life cycle of the pesticide needs to be reconsidered in St. Lucia. Okay what is your unit doing on a regular basis to update St. Lucia's especially the farmers like you mentioned some of them cannot read the labels what are you all doing to ensure that they are safe to use those pesticides? We do a number of pesticide training training on pesticide use and safety but the issue is this as I said you have persons selling pesticides and the pesticides are not properly packaged we have some of the retail shops repackaging the pesticide you have pesticides if you go by them in town you'll see some pesticides whereby the label is in a foreign language which is illegal well as the pesticide but the pesticide board is the regulator of pesticides in St. Lucia the pesticide ball supposed to have its registered and is an inspector will monitor what is happening out there and work together with the customs so that those can be rectified in terms of the the the inspector confiscating products and so on did this is what is happening okay but for example you mentioned okay if you go by the market somebody at Libyan selling pesticides right to the farmers to the public it is not Libyan or the wrong Libyan is on it what do you all do with that person doing such a thing? Well based on the law you supposed to get a warrant from a magistrate and you know sometimes when you all go through all bureaucracy and so on the pesticide is already sold and what we can do is sub-programs of that nature where we educate farmers and the public out there in terms of the weight or they should purchase pesticide should not be purchased without the label pesticide should not be repackaged and so on that is the what we can do for now Even I know you have farmers putting pesticides in soft drink bottles What do you all do? Well in a situation like this it is very difficult to police a farmer decide to put pesticide in a soft drink bottle we've warned persons we have had lots of programs in that regard and persons still continue doing the same it's as I said it will be very difficult to sort of control this unless you educate farmers properly as I said give them the right education if you give them the right education probably in the coming weeks or whatever they're going to change those habits but as I said it's very difficult to change this okay but let's go back a bit I mean I'm sure what we are discussing here many moons ago that you'll have been discussing that right yes have you seen any obvious change with the farmers and also the people who are selling those pesticides out there have there been some change? Definitely not because as I said we've when the pesticide is registered it is registered based on the label that they the person submit to the pesticide bond but what is happening when you go out there with your monitoring you see pesticides that are sold under the wrong label the wrong color code every pesticide supposed to have a color code take for example some of the observation I've made is that you have to example a product like a Paracoa product that is a product that supposed to have a yellow label and you see in person selling pesticides that particular pesticide with a green label which is where it is not toxic at all and these are some of the issues that we in the coming weeks we're going to address this year with the pesticide what are the hazardous highly hazardous chemicals we have in solution that is cause for concern? Yes we have a number of highly hazardous pesticides still registered on the pesticide list and where I speak to highly hazardous pesticides highly hazardous pesticides are those pesticides that are capable of causing irreversible harm to human health those are the pesticides that if you go under the Rotterdam convention they are listed on the annex free of the Rotterdam convention these are the pesticides where by on the Stockholm convention the label you have 1A and 1B whenever you see a pesticide 1A or 1B it is a highly hazardous pesticide and on the pesticide list presently as I say we have several highly hazardous pesticides like Paracoa we call the Gramalzone we have glyphosate that touch down glyphosinid ammonium the Buster you have methyl meal a product called Lanet we have cloppy reefers we have to for the aiming those are some of the those highly hazardous pesticides that are used presently out in the field and to use highly hazardous pesticides it is very difficult to phase out all the highly hazardous pesticides what we recommend to the farmers is that in the absence of the alternative you can use all the necessary protective equipment so that the risk is minimized but again farmers they tend to tell you that they've been using pesticides for so long and the thing is happening to them but you have to understand that for pesticide use the effect can be chronic and it can be acute as well probably some of those pesticides that we use they've been using is accumulating in the body because of the level of exposure they have no protective equipment and as you know the body is very susceptible you're not a turtle you have a hard shell where the pesticide will not be able to enter but you only the biggest organ in your body is your skin and the rest in your pores and so you have your ears you have your nose where pesticides can enter as well so it is an issue pesticide highly hazardous pesticide is an issue for us take for example Gramaxone the Paracoat a lot of countries now abandon Paracoat why because you have a high rate of suicide because it is a weapon of choice you have the glyphosate which is the bastard you've heard a lot about glyphosate people swim months and two four millions and so on claiming well they got cancer because after they use the product over a long period of time but for us in St. Lucia we have not banned the product whereby the only country in the world that banned the product for agriculture use was Sri Lanka and it was reinstated but as I said in terms of a product like this you don't expect to go by take for example Derek Walker Square and see persons using parac update this the glyphosate there but it is a product that is regular most countries are regulating this particular product because of public safety you should not use that product where you have other persons congregating and so on this is the issue in terms of the others like in the meffo meal and so on but we are there is a dire need for research in alternatives to those highly hazardous pesticides on a global scale it is happening but the alternatives as well they are problematic as well because they are still lots of unknowns a lot of persons now talking about biopasic side barbota nickels and so on yes but there are lots of unknowns to example for example we had a product called bio rat it is salmonella the salmonella to control the rodents in this particular product but what can happen to the salmonella is that it can mutate so whereby we from the pesticide over time the concentration will be diluted but take for example you introduce a product like this a bio pesticide it means it is a live organism so you cannot withdraw the life organism when they do you introduce it into the market so there are some of the issues as a pesticide border and we face out there but there are chemicals that's a band overseas that you mentioned and right here I know there is our sister islands invention also but we have it here in Saint Lucia well as I said burning of a pesticide there is no globally harmonized system for pesticide registration it is country specific as I mentioned a while ago typical example the grammar zone countries are facing out grammar zone because of suicide rate in St. Vincent the decision was taken years ago for to ban the glyphosate but I'm not sure whether it was reinstated but as a CGPC grouping which is the grouping of pesticide boards of the Caribbean where we meet and we discussed pesticide issues and the CGPC is the curriculum working group on pesticide management so it probably sentencing is the only country that ban this particular pesticide but again as I said there is a dire need for alternatives in that regard and if you all the free hobby sites that we use presently the glyphosate ammonium the Buster the touchdown and the grammar zone all those pesticides are listed as highly as a specific side but as a board you cannot ban those pesticides because if you do we'll not tell a farmer to go and weed five acres of bananas in the absence of an alternative but what you can do is take the precautionary approach presently we haven't been there no alternative but make sure when you apply in the pesticide you add hair to the pesticide label and you put all the protective equipment that you have on them before. Wow but what do you do on a regular basis to actually get the farmers to understand the dangers of using those chemicals and that's why I think we falter you know I know you said okay you go out there the farmers should know to read the labels but in terms of the protective wear are you all doing a surveillance at those shops that are selling those chemicals to see that they sell protective gear? Presently we did some monitoring but most of the retailers are saying that since COVID there is a shortage of protective equipment on the market probably because of COVID a number of the PPE that was used for pesticide a number of persons use it for COVID as well so we we've been impressing upon those those retailers that if you sell in pesticides you should sell the protective equipment as well and it is the duty of the farmer or whoever is using pesticide in the household as well because that is where pesticide registration is so complex some of the pesticides that we using out in the field the agrochemicals the active ingredient is the same as some of the pesticides that we use in the household whereby with pesticides with the agrochemicals we tend to tell the farmers use the protective equipment but in a household setting you will not tell persons use that the regular slug bit you you're using around the homes you should have protective equipment to apply the slug bit the normal aerosol spray that you use for the big the roaches and the mosquitoes and so on you will not tell the householder to use protective equipment yet it is the same active ingredient in the agrochemical your persons now using take for example the scented aerosols with the same active ingredient as some of the pesticide and you at home watching television you close all your door and you still there watching the television because it is scented no because it is scented whereby before it was not scented when you apply in the those aerosols you would open all your windows and you sit out now it is scented you figure it's safe to say it well that is what that is what that is the trick it is scented and persons now believe well it is different it is more friendly and so on so they will sit at home and apply the those aerosols and watch television so imagine you doing that for decades what is going to happen to yes it may not happen to you certainly but over time it's going to affect the body you spoke about alternative hazardous a hash chemical that can be used the organically you know produce chemicals how prevalent are those chemicals how can you access those chemicals well again it's not Saint Lucia alone yes we've been talking about alternatives like botanicals these are the extracts from plants and so on the the pheromones this which is called the semi-o chemicals and the microbiome which is a live microorganisms we've been talking about those pesticides for very long time on a global scale but in terms of commercialization in the pesticide market the pesticide the market for toxic chemicals is approaching 60 billion dollars a year but in terms of the organic products it is still less than a hundred million in terms of value so you can see there is a dire need to source those those pesticides do more research bring them in evaluate those pesticides because without evaluation you cannot tell a farmer use microbiome versus the toxic chemicals because with this toxic chemicals they're going to see the effect immediately but the botanicals the semi-o chemicals they work differently you have to apply those some of those pesticides even before you observe any problem so those those microorganisms they have to be fixed in the soil and so on and then they will be able to do the work for you but if the toxic chemical just you just use it for one spray and then you see the effect that is some of the issues we face out there so in solution to this I mean I know we have had some organic pesticides all right do we do our own research in St. Lucia in terms of adaptation of those chemicals and the use by the farmers in from say from your unit standpoint yes we do a lot of work in terms of outreach programs with the farmers in terms of the bio pesticide as a pesticide board we've been registering a lot of biopesticides lately the microbiome the botanicals things like Timorex gold and so on sting bio power bio cure and so on all these are microbiome we've been registering those products but as I said the the issue is that in terms of the effect that is where the farmers we need to do more training the farmers as I said the farmers ones one immediate effect but the microbiome and the botanicals they have been slower than those toxic chemicals all right we do for our first break you're watching agriculture in the moon you do for our first week stay tuned back so treatment always follow the recommended safety procedures always wear protective gear when handling or being exposed to the fungicide or other pesticides use only the fungicides recommended by the black cigarette management unit when the treatment is due the required quantity of the particular fungicide recommended must be mixed with spray oil and apply at a rate of 1.5 to 2 gallons per acre fungicides which are not recommended or applied at the wrong time but even when the spray treatment is not done effectively can cause the fungus to become resistant to the chemical and therefore may no longer control the disease oil fungicide mix which has been stored for too long should not be used to treat black cigarette disease if carried out such treatments may not be effective and can lead to poor control of the disease remember before each chemical treatment for black cigarette disease on your farm first the oil fungicide mix must be re-agitated immediately before application for more information on how to treat and control black cigarette on your farm or in your backyard garden contact the black cigarette management unit at 451-5491 4515894 or email BPMU at candw.lc this message is brought to you by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the International Corporation on Development Fund of the Republic of China on Taiwan welcome back to the program agriculture on the move with me mr. Traders Alexander the plant protection officer and also we discuss in pesticide use Traders there is a pesticide board what's the role again of the pesticide board the pesticide board is basically the regulator for pesticides in St. Lucia they do pesticide registration issuing of the import permits the pesticide body is supposed to license the all retail shops pest control operators is supposed to be licensed by the pesticide board as well these are the major functions of the pesticide toxic chemical control board okay so somebody who is doing see pesticide pest control at homes and other business places you are you have to be registered yes this is a threat again to in terms of human health you have to certify those operators because you have to make sure that they use the right pesticides they have the right equipment to apply to apply the pesticides and so on so they need to be licensed so okay the pesticide board also the clinical decision to to actually curtail the use of a hazardous pesticide yes based on the pesticide act the pesticide board can deregister a pesticide but it is the minister that can burn a pesticide in St. Lucia and in terms of dealing with the highly hazardous pesticides that we talk about at the regional level there is a plan for dealing with highly hazardous pesticides which we have adopted as well which is one reduce the dependence on highly hazardous pesticide because what is happening out there is that whenever there is a problem to meet may not be a problem but whether the farmers see a few insect damage on the farm the first line of defense is to use pesticide and as a result there is over reliance on pesticide the farmer will have a problem the farmer will go to the agri shop the person in the agri shop does not know which ever insect is affecting the crop but that person is going to recommend a pesticide to the farmer and that pesticide maybe a class one a pesticide which is highly hazardous pesticide the crop at what stage the crop is in the farmer will not tell the person in the agri business shop what stage whether that flowering stage whether that vegetative stage or close to harvesting but that person is going to issue a pesticide to the farmer and what is going to happen the farmer is going to use the pesticide now they are pesticides that one once the plant is shooting you're not supposed to use this particular pesticide what did the agri business person will ask the farmer what group of pesticide is this at what stage of the crop is supposed to use a particular group take for example if you have an organophosphate if it's a pyrethroid how the pyrethroid is working when to use the pyrethroid these are some of the issues that we have to educate those persons out there in terms of pesticide use but you touch a very important point there you know it's like okay I cannot go to a pharmacy and see I okay I will tell the pharmacist what what what are my symptoms the pharmacy cannot diagnose a medication for me unless I go to a doctor yeah yeah yes so why is it that the farmer can go to that shop and like you said he has not been able to give the the overall evaluation of the crop it's on the field and then this gentleman will issue to him a hazardous chemical to go back and spray and what would happen two weeks later he would go out a week later he would have harvest that crop and sell to the consumers well the problem the two systems were almost the same with the medical system yes you need a prescription but remember they are over the counter drugs as well well with pesticides at registration the business supposed to provide what is called MSZ a sheet the pesticide label you have an application you have your dossier now you review those information and then you register the pesticide you register the pesticide for a particular use so why are you now a farmer wanting the pesticide because you are really registered there was an blaster who side so the farmer has a problem with which the farmer must have a prescription saying well I need to use the who beside the control which as well but your point is very important in terms of food security exactly based on the pesticide but there are certain pesticides that are restricted use pesticides only certain persons should use the pesticide for example you must have the right equipment to use the pesticide for example provided you see farmers using invited on vegetables yes and when you invited based on by the registration of by the equipment to apply the value was a very good was a very good gun where it's already calibrated at 7.5 ml and by this probably the most toxic pesticide on the pesticide list so in terms of them the money that is the way the board that is the way we should go with this those pesticides are the classified as highly as the pesticide class 1 a pesticide it should be restricted if you go to a shop and you have somebody for class 1 a pesticide that person should give you a form and you should take that form probably to the person today to the extension officer or somebody at research and they can approve of that for you in the absence of this what is happening you have person even the persons that I sent the retail shops because of the of the the poor labeling standards the codes that is supposed to use they're not using the proper code based on my observation during this week we need to do there's dire need to go back and educate those persons in those shops on the pesticide label on the code because every pesticide supposed to have a color code a highly specific I suppose to have a red red one which is moderately hazardous yellow then you have a slightly as a blue and then you have a green but what is happening I saw persons now we pesticides paracord pesticide is supposed to have a yellow color code I suppose it's a green color code so if you put a green color code on on on paracord it says well it is not very toxic it is environmentally friendly which is wrong so definitely as I said there is a dire need to rethink to go back and educate those persons yeah so so what are you all doing well what is the bond doing because you mean your member of the border well as the pet we waiting we had a consultancy over the weekend now we can last week sorry we had a consultant hired by the FAO reviewing the the legislation and regulations so definitely based on his advice definitely we're going to make it our duty because it's very important that we protect the public from the youth for say hazard because it is the board's duty to protect environmental health human health and animal health as well so that is the way forward based on his report now what he's recommending we'll look at the recommendation and implement those recommendations well house again that is the time frame a timeline when you know because that that is crucial yes it is very crucial but again it's a matter of enforcement pesticide labeling I spoke to a while ago it is in the pesticide act it is not in St. Lucia we have all those pieces of legislation but we don't enforce the rules that is that that is the issue with us supposed to enforce it that's the question yeah as I said the pesticide was supposed to be there they already the stakeholders on the board as well as opposed to in the cultural means environmental health development customs and so on because nothing is our issue until it is crisis only when there's a crisis that people act in solution that well it shouldn't it shouldn't it's already a crisis it's a crisis because as I said farmers are using the wrong pesticides persons in the households they using the wrong pesticides okay imagine I went to the same visit to the consultant and what happened is that we met somebody selling pesticide when the question well what is the pesticide it controls everything oh how do you apply it either you use a sprayer or use a brush for bed bugs you know he the person is saying you use a sprayer a highly hazardous pesticide use a sprayer or you put the make the solution and use a painting brush to put on the camera we have to end it here because there is the end of the program and I do thank you for ending on that note because very critical we need to come back to on that program very very shortly thank you for being a treat us and I wish you success in ensuring that your board takes immediate action to at least put us for the pesticide hazardous in terms of what we use and thanks for having us after and as you said I'm willing to come back anytime you've been watching our culture in the move I will thank you for being the program but remember pesticides are dangerous all pesticides even what you use aerosols and at your home be careful read the label I'm Philip Sidney goodbye