Eliminating Dangerous Pesticides and Promoting Safer Agriculture in the Republic of Moldova


On 26 May 2015 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, with the financial assistance of the European Union, launched a safeguarding and environmentally sound disposal operation of more than 400 tonnes of obsolete pesticides from the Pascani site in the Criuleni district in the Republic of Moldova. 

Together with the Ministries, local authorities, civil society organizations and the European Union Delegation to Moldova, the Food and Agriculture Organization presented  the progress on collaborative work under the project “Improved pesticides and chemicals management in the Former Soviet Union” at the Pascani site, where the safeguarding and environmentally sound disposal operation of obsolete pesticide started.

The project aims to reduce risks from obsolete pesticides across the region and working with ten countries from the Former Soviet Union region (Armenia; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Georgia; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Moldova; Tajikistan; Ukraine; and Uzbekistan). At the same time, the project is building capacity to reduce risks from pesticides used in agriculture and avoid build-up of additional stockpiles in the future.

The Republic of Moldova was one of the first countries to sign the project agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2012. Over the last decade it has made a tremendous effort to eliminate obsolete stocks in the country.

With more than 50 per cent of it land under cultivation; Moldova’s economy is heavily dependent on agriculture. Pesticides were used heavily during the Soviet era to increase food production. Large quantities of obsolete pesticides have remained from that time which now poses a significant threat to the environment and health.

The country is strongly interested in strengthening life cycle management of chemicals used in agriculture in order to prevent the recurrence of obsolete stocks. Large amounts of pesticides continue to be used in food production and the project aims to promote strategies for sustainable agricultural production while reducing hazardous pesticide use.

The project is implemented through strong collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, Ministry of Environment, civil society (both nationally and internationally) together with international partners and experts. 

Background: A 7-million-euro Project is funded by the European Union and implemented by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in a number of post-Soviet countries, including the Republic of Moldova. 


You can get more details: by contacting:  Oxana Perminova ([email protected]) and Richard Thompson ([email protected])


 

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