The National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies (Conahcyt) indicated that the Mexican agri-food industry can do without glyphosate. However, it did not provide scientific evidence of the damage it causes to health or the substitute that protects national production, as this herbicide does.
Leticia López Zepeda, director of the National Association of Marketing Companies of Rural Producers (Anec), indicated that Conahcyt obtained evidence that production without glyphosate can generate more yields and profits for the Mexican countryside.
“It was identified that alternatives such as the use of weeding tools and agroecological practices such as manual weed removal are safer for health, and even up to 30 percent more profitable for farmers,” the company also said in a press conference. member of Conahcyt.
On Tuesday night, the Mexican government decided to postpone the ban on the use of glyphosate, which was scheduled for March 31 of this year, due to the lack of a viable substitute for this herbicide.
In this regard, López Zepeda added that the federal government’s extension against glyphosate was not necessary, since it would continue to affect human health problems, without providing evidence.
“The large monopolies, which seek economic benefits, accuse that there will be a production crisis. Extremist deductions cannot be made just for the non-use of a herbicide, it is ignorant and must stop now,” he accused.
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Yanett Gallegos, research director at Altus Biotech, a company dedicated to the development of biological products for the countryside, stated that Conahcyt identified more than three bioherbicides in the national and international market capable of replacing glyphosate.
In Mexico, there are three alternatives to herbicide developed by small and medium-sized companies. These can be used immediately and are in the approval process before the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris), Galleos indicated.
In addition, the director of Altus Biotech assured that the production capacity of Mexican bioherbicides amounts to 3.6 million liters per year, a sufficient amount to cover the needs of the agri-food system.
THEY DO NOT KNOW THE FIELD WORK
Juan Carlos Anaya, general director of the Agricultural Market Consulting Group (GCMA) told El Sol de México that the tools proposed by Conahcyt experts are rudimentary, since they are not small fields that must be protected with herbicides, but rather large fields. hectares.
“These are people who are at the desk, who do not know how to work in the field, who should ask the producers, they are the ones affected. It is foolish on the part of the ideologues in Conahcyt to remove this product that must be handled with care.” and that has shown effectiveness,” he added.
According to Anaya, what glyphosate does is that the field does not lose productivity and it is used in more than 40 percent of the products in Mexico, mainly in the southeast, where due to the climate and characteristics, weeds are more likely to appear. The manager added that this herbicide is used mainly on corn, wheat and sorghum crops.
The Mexican Union of Agrochemical Manufacturers and Formulators (Umfaac) warned that 40 percent of the country’s cereal and other crop production will be at risk of being lost if the federal government’s ban is applied. They indicated that the decree that the federal government initially published was a mistake, since Mexico is the only country of all the large agricultural industries in the world that seeks to prohibit glyphosate.
2024-03-27 23:58:41
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