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Peeters welcomes ban on pesticides

Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters has welcomed a temporary ban by the EU on three contested pesticides implicated in the massive deaths of bee colonies. The so-called neonicotinoid pesticides will not be used for a period of two years while the situation is evaluated. The compounds, which are marketed under various brand names, like Bayer and Syngenta, may not be used on flowering crops that form part of the bees’ habitat.

Peeters, whose portfolio also includes agriculture, repeated his government’s commitment to sustainable farming, and recalled measures already taken for the benefit of beekeepers, including €50,000 for demonstration projects as well as a free guide to good beekeeping.

The farmers’ union Boerenbond said that the ban would affect mainly smallscale crops such as peas and flax for which there is currently no alternative to the neonicotinoids.

(May 8, 2024)