France drafts new pesticide reduction plan

摘要

The French Ministry of Agriculture is to present on January 30th a new version of the Ecophyto plan aimed at halving usage of pesticides in the country. The action comes after a Parliamentary report at the end of December revealed that the original plan, dubbed Ecophyto 2018, had not delivered the expected results. Agrochemical use went up by 9% in 2013 over the previous year and by 5% on average between 2009 and 2013. The Minister of Agriculture, Stephane Le Foll, has indicated that the new plan would be based on three main planks.