The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has started debating publicly a draft law on pesticides and agricultural inputs in a move to manage the pesticides in the country after the local farmers have used it widely in growing the agricultural crops, and protecting the people’s health and environmental sustainability.
“This law aims to regulate the management, the standard requirement, the trade and the use services of pesticide and agricultural inputs in the country,” H.E. Dr. Chan Sarun, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said in his opening remarks at a consultative seminar of the law in Phnom Penh on July 14th.
The seminar was organized and contributed by Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Japan International Cooperation Agency Cambodia Office (JICA) and NGO Forum.
H.E. Dr. Chan Sarun said that this law also is to support the national agricultural sector policy in enhancing the potential of agricultural products and ensure effective control of pesticide and agricultural input, and enhance public awareness in the application of standard requirements in the trade, the use services and handling of pesticides and agricultural inputs with safety, to protect interest of farmers in agricultural product and other relevant users with ensuring food security, public health
and sustainable agro-ecosystem.
pesticides, fertilizers, animal feeds and additives and veterinary medicines as well as raw material used as composition and active ingredients formulation
of these products,” he said. “All activities by the physical person and legal persons relating to all types of trade in pesticides and agricultural inputs, pesticide use services, commercial advertisement donation, disposal, destruction of pesticides and agricultural inputs in the country,” he highlighted.
agricultural inputs produced by farmers through formulation of natural substances for using in household agricultural production or for noncommercial or non-use services purpose shall be determine by a particularly sub –decree.
In Cambodia, pesticide and agricultural inputs are supportive sources that have been used in growing agricultural crops for boosting productivity and enhancing quantity and quality in agricultural sector, he said, adding that developing countries has been using pesticide and chemical fertilizers to promote quantity of agricultural products but at the same time, when farmers used these risk substances without consideration and it turned to destroy people’s health, and the environment.
In 2009, Cambodia conducted research on using pesticides in country. The figure showed that chemical fertilizers on markets registered with the ministry about 33 percent and 14 percent of chemical fertilizers wrote in Khmer, and pesticides of 12 percent registered with ministry, and two of pesticides wrote in Khmer. At
that same time, 87 percent of pesticides did not register and five of them banned using by ministry and 6 percent banned by world health organization. Only 13 percent of those banned pesticides were written in Khmer.
“We want the pesticides and agricultural inputs to label in Khmer, therefore local farmers can use them properly to avoid destroying their health and using them for growing agricultural crops,” he said.
He added the figure also shows that in the country, pesticide and agricultural inputs have used widely in Kandal province, which was known because local farmers had grown agricultural crops to supply Phnom Penh.
“We also will become signatory members of Rotterdam Convention in purpose of protection of flowing pesticide and chemical fertilizers with high risk which violated the international law,” he said. “We do not want to turn our country into waste store and a place of testing pesticides and other chemicals in agricultural
sector that contained high risk and prohibition. We have to continuously educate our farmers about the danger of pesticides, and urge them to use
standard ones,” he added.
that it will also review and assess the completion of standard requirements at pre-registration for trade of pesticides and agricultural inputs and the pesticide use services, and to verify the guaranteed analysis of pesticide and agricultural inputs at a laboratory and to undertake a bio-efficacy trial in a field in order to define the data for the assessment of the registration application,” article 6 of draft law.
It will designate inspection agents of pesticide and agricultural inputs in order to monitor, to control and to undertake enforcement measures to all trade and
use service activities and the application of standard requirement of all pesticide agricultural inputs, and to conduct international cooperation and play a role as
the national focal institution, responsible for leading and implementing relevant obligations under international conventions or agreements on pesticide and
agro-chemicals, to perform other task within the jurisdiction of management of pesticide and agricultural inputs in accordance with law.
“The government will establish the national council for pesticides which shall be led by the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, with the department of agricultural legislation of the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries serving as its secretariat,” he said.
The national council will define, monitor, assess the implementation of national policies and strategies for the management of pesticides, and provide recommendation to the government on the signification of pesticide related international convention and agreements, and decide on the proposed classification and list for the country, the organization and functioning of the national council for pesticides shall be determined by a sub-decree, the article 7 of the draft law reported.
Article 91 said that it shall penalized, imprison from 6 months to three years and impose a fine from US$ 5,000 to US$ 10,000 to revoke all relevant permits as well as to confiscate or destroy evidences to an offender who commits any offences like behaving activities in manufacturing, formulating repackaging agricultural inputs without a technical standard or using raw materials as genetically modified organisms and as chemicals promoting unusual growth to all types of crops or animals, trading counterfeit agricultural inputs or its guaranteed analysis of nutrient substances or its composition, differing from the confirmation on the labels or which contradicts the affirmation during registration, trading agricultural inputs by adding or taking out any ingredients from a container, which differs from the original standard from manufacturing or which contradicts affirmation during registration, trading counterfeit agricultural inputs or ex-standard agricultural inputs, a
counterfeit container, a counterfeit Khmer label, a counterfeit registration number on the container.
H.E. Dr. Chan Sarun noted that in case of recidivism, it shall be penalized in double and shall repair the damages or shall impose a civil compensatory, in case an offense causes hazard to health, damage to the environment and damage to properties either within a private or public framework. The law has 12 chapters containing 100 articles. After publicly debating this time, it will hand over to the national assembly to approve soon and the views and ideas from debating will be
input to establish the law firmly.
Chit Sam Ath, head of NGO Forum said at the event that 85 percent of Cambodians are farmers. After we observed for 10 years, we found that the pesticides and agricultural inputs created communicable illnesses to local farmers and destroyed people’s health and it has threatened the agricultural system in the country.
“We believe that we have to join together to share economic ad social benefits with equity for using natural resources for substantiality,” he said. “Reducing and managing pesticides in agricultural sector strictly will contribute enhancing to increase agricultural product effectively,” he said. (SEAW)

BY CHHORNG LONG HENG