For over two years, COVID-19 prevented the Pesticide Registration Toolkit training workshops being conducted in person. As the world slowly recovers from the pandemic and travel starts opening, the first “in person” Pesticide Registration Toolkit training held in Asia after the COVID 19 restrictions was organized from 4 – 9 September in Dhaka, Bangladesh by FAO.

For many years, pesticides were widely used on rice, sugarcane, cotton and vegetables leading to an increased resistance of insects to pesticides, environmental pollution and food contamination. The Government of Bangladesh have been progressively adopting measures for preventing the inappropriate use of pesticides and ensure food safety. As a result of this effort, by 1998, registration of more than twenty pesticides, including seven POPs pesticides (DDT, endrin, aldrin, dieldrin, chlordane, heptachlor and BHC) and all WHO Class 1a and 1b active ingredients, have been cancelled.

The five-day national training was attended by 15 officers from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), in the Ministry of Agriculture, involved in the evaluation, registration, quality control and inspection of pesticides. The workshop aimed at further strengthening their capacity in pesticide evaluation and registration, which is central for effective protection of human health and the environment, for food security and improved nutrition, ecosystems and natural resources management, and for promoting sustainable agriculture.

Participants were introduced to different modules of the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit, practiced pesticides evaluation through various exercises and case studies, learnt to navigate the Toolkit, and discussed its use in day-to-day regulatory work. They considered the training highly valuable and practical, and expressed interest in being further trained in specific modules of the Toolkit.

The training was organized within the framework of FAO Pesticide Risk Reduction project in Bangladesh, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which aims to build national capacity for better management of pesticides and hazardous waste and to reduce risks to human and animal health and the environment from stockpiles of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).