The president of the Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA), Cristóbal Aguado, warned today in Brussels that the European Union's (EU) suppression of active phytosanitary substances would be catastrophic. "If Mediterranean farmers run out of solutions to fight pests and diseases, there will be more land abandonment, more fires, more arid lands, and more food dependence from outside," he stated. The Valencian agricultural leader made these statements during the COPA-COGECA working group on phytosanitary issues, the entity that brings together the main European agricultural organizations and cooperatives.
According to the agricultural organization, the European Commission's draft regulation on the use of plant protection products will ban all plant protection products in 80% of Valencian agriculture. "The EU is making a mistake. Cultivating in northern Europe isn't the same as cultivating in southern Europe. While it's currently cold in the north, it's almost 20 degrees in the south so pests can multiply. If this regulation is passed, Europeans should start worrying. People can't eat ideals. We'll pay a high price if the fields are abandoned. Depending on the food from a third country to be able to make and sell processed or industrial goods can be very expensive in the medium and long term," Aguado stated.
The president of AVA-ASAJA made a call for unity: “The north and the south have the responsibility to work together. As climate experts note, the more that the Mediterranean basin becomes arid the more that there will be a lack of rainfall in the heart of Europe. Tree crops retain more carbon dioxide and generate more oxygen. In the event of a fire, the flames are stopped in the cultivated fields, which also serve as a shelter for the extinguishing equipment. The EU must stop living from ideals and come back down to earth.”
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