Central America and The Dominican Republic seek common registration of biopesticides

Date:06-08-2022

Central America and the Dominican Republic the Dominican Republic promote the establishment of a regional regulation on the registration of biopesticides that allows agricultural producers to have environmentally friendly alternatives for the control of pests in crops, informed the Dominican Republic. This Friday the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

Delegates from regulatory institutions of the countries of the region sought to advance the draft of the Central American Technical Regulation (RTCA) for biopesticides, during a meeting in Costa Rica organized by IICA, the United States Department of Agriculture States (USDA, for its acronym in English) and the Central American Agricultural Council.

“Having a modern and harmonized regulatory framework at the regional level will bring many benefits to the countries. The high value of supporting this process based on science and promoting international harmonization is worth highlighting, since this helps to promote trade and maintain adequate levels of protection”, affirmed Dr. The deputy director general of IICA, Lloyd Day.

The initiative to generate the regulations takes place within the framework of the project on harmonization of pesticide registration procedures and alignment of maximum limits of residues, carried out in the region by IICA and the USDA.

USDA/FAS Global Pesticides Program Manager Nigel Hunter explained that the current scenario has serious challenges in terms of climate change, for which “agriculture has a transcendental role in providing answers and finding more sustainable ways of living and alternative measures for the protection of crops”.

“The regulation will have It plays a key role in the mitigation of chemical residues, the promotion of food safety and that Central America advances as a leader in the global environment in the registration of biopesticides, “said Dr. Hunter.

The authorities indicated that the process will continue. In the coming months, in order to consolidate the regulation proposal that would be delivered within the framework of the Central American Economic Integration Secretariat (SIECA) for negotiation and approval.

“With this, the countries of Central America and the Dominican Republic will be able to have a normative framework harmonized with the latest that exists at the international level in regulation of bio-inputs, he explained. The specialist in Agricultural Health of IICA, Eric Bolaños.

Experts estimate that by the end of the year the region and the technical institutions dealing with bio pesticide issues will reach a consensus of document and, once obtained, the draft would be delivered to SIECA.