The sale and use of the highly toxic herbicide paraquat is to be banned from February, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday, adding that red bean farmers using other agents can receive subsidies before the ban takes effect.
The council in October last year announced its plan to prohibit the circulation of a 24 percent paraquat solution and a 33.6 percent paraquat-diuron solution: Their processing and import were banned from February this year, while their distribution, sale and use are to be banned from February next year.
People who use banned agents on farms are to face a fine of NT$15,000 to NT$150,000 (US$486 and US$4,855), while those who produce, process, distribute, import or sell banned agents are to face a prison term of up to seven years or a maximum fine of NT$7.5 million, the council said, citing the Agro-pesticides Management Act (農藥管理法).
The number of highly toxic agricultural pesticides allowed for use in the nation has dropped from 66 in 1992 to 11, which would be reduced to 9 after the two agents are banned next year, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Director-General Feng Hai-tung (馮海東) said.
Farmers often use paraquat to defoliate red bean plants, but they are advised to use the council’s sodium chlorate solution, which has lower toxicity, Feng said.
Red bean farmers using the solution can receive a subsidy of NT$6,500 per hectare and NT$10,000 if they do not use any defoliants, the council said.
While many farmers have complained that the sodium chlorate solution is less effective but costlier than paraquat, the council has developed a new defoliant called NA-yci1, which can quickly decompose and does not harm animals, said Fei Wen-chi (費雯綺), director of the council’s Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute.
Farmers using the NA-yci1 agent and paraquat on red bean plants can harvest their produce after seven days; those using sodium chlorate have to wait for two weeks; and those not using any defoliants have to wait for 21 days, the institute said.
The EU has banned the use of paraquat since 2007, while in the US the herbicide can only be used by licensed applicators.
Additional reporting by Sean Lin
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