National action Plan to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides 2012.

This publication contains the Slovak Republic National action Plan to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides 2012. In terms of the sustainable use of plant protection products, this National Action Plan contains, in particular, qualitative and quantitative objectives, measures to reduce health and environmental risks and the impacts of the use of plant protection products on human health and the environment, and support for the development and introduction of integrated pest management and of the alternative approaches or techniques used in plant protection. Overall objectives of this text are here listed: to minimize the hazards and risks to health and the environment from the use of pesticides; to improve controls on the use and distribution of pesticides; to reduce the levels of harmful active substances including through substituting the most dangerous with safer (including non-chemical) alternatives; to encourage low-input or pesticide-free cultivation, among other things through raising users’ awareness, promoting the use of codes of good practices and promoting consideration of the possible application of financial instruments; to establish a transparent system for reporting and monitoring progress made in the fulfilling of the objectives of the strategy, including the development of suitable indicators.
The Slovak Government’s policy statement officially declared that the Government would strive to provide quality domestic plant production: ‘Support for rural development and effective care of the countryside also necessitates the integration of all critical activities in the countryside into a single functional unit. The Government will also focus on support for all other positive external factors of the agri-food sector, including maintenance of the cultural nature of the countryside, protection and management of the environment, and acceleration of the development of the rural economy. The Government will respect EU programming documents aimed at promoting economic growth and economic performance in agriculture and forestry, in keeping with the principles of a balance between economic and eco-friendly farming practices. This is a prerequisite for a sustainable social market economy in the countryside. The Slovak Republic will support preparations for measures related to the adaptation of agriculture to climate change through farming practices that will increase water retention in the countryside, and the preparation of an effective policy for the conservation and development of improved water management facilities (irrigation and drainage). The safeguarding of high-quality and healthy agricultural production is a matter of common concern for professionals and the general public alike. However, crop production cannot exist without essential inputs. Pesticides play a key role in the pursuit of the quantitative targets of both crop production and forestry, but their use needs to be of such a standard and method that no risk is posed to human health and the environment, or that risks are minimized as much as possible. Trade globalization and climate warming create conditions in which harmful organisms flourish, and the need to provide protection against them therefore continues. In this respect, it would be impossible to ensure a sufficient scale of crop production and forestry without pesticide use. The aim of the National Action Plan is to minimize the hazards and risks to human health and the environment arising from the use of pesticides by setting objectives, actions, measures and indicators to reduce these potential risks. The important tools for achieving the objectives of the National Action Plan include legislative arrangements and the subsequent implementation and purposeful application of a compulsory training system for persons who, under EU and Slovak national legislation, have not previously been required to attend compulsory training on plant protection products. This system will give the broad professional and general public access, in an appropriate form, to the full range of expert information on all areas which are covered by the National Action Plan and which are consistent with Annexes I to III of Directive 2009/128/EC. Main objectives are to establish a methodology for integrated pest management for each group of crops and their specific requirements in terms of the application of integrated pest management, focusing on proposals to change the current system of crop cultivation towards a system ‘balanced for plant protection’. This methodology must be drawn up and validated by research organizations as a matter of priority, be created on the basis of real economic and other objective crop-growing conditions in the Slovak Republic, be as simple as possible, controllable and flexible, and be peer-reviewed in particular by growing-association representatives prior to official publication; to expand the training system in the field of plant protection products to include crop manuals; to ensure the continuity of the information provided on integrated pest management by means of appropriate publication on the Internet with the relevant promotion of integrated pest management and recommendations in the form of printed publications; to arrange for an objective assessment of the benefits and drawbacks of minimization technologies, including in economic terms; to extend the independent advice system to include details of biological and integrated pest management and integrated production from 1 January 2014 and to use European Union funds to finance such system; to encourage easier farmer access to biological products based on natural substances that enhance the natural resistance of crops and products intended for the monitoring of harmful organisms (pheromone, optic, alcohol and water traps, sticky boards, equipment to swat pests, etc.). This also includes the promotion of such products, designated for the creation of the simple control system in respect of compliance with the general principles of integrated plant protection; to maintain separate subsidy opportunities for integrated production and organic farming; to support research projects on biological pest control, determine the resistance of harmful organisms, draw up methods for the evaluation and monitoring thereof, develop new environmental best practices for farmers in different geographical and climatic conditions, promote the domestic breeding of resistant varieties and support Slovak entities in the organization of mandatory testing of the resistance of newly cultivated varieties. Another reason to support domestic breeding is the fact that in the process of breeding, varieties grown in specific climates are, to some degree, naturally resistant to pressure from the harmful organisms that regularly occur in that area and therefore do not require the same interventions against such organisms as varieties not adapted to our climatic and soil conditions.