| The Voluntary Initiative (VI) is a package of measures, developed by the agricultural and agrochemical industries, which aims to minimise the impact of pesticides on the environment. The VI includes over 40 different projects or activities designed to promote best practice in the use of pesticides. It is scheduled to run for five years, from April 2001 to March 2006.
We feel the VI's current targets for the area of land under the Crop Protection Management Plans and for water quality are insufficiently challenging. To date, there is also little irrefutable evidence of the environmental benefits of the VI. Defra is unable to provide assurances on these benefits and has little confidence in the usefulness of the research it commissioned specifically to provide tools for this assessment.
The VI can never be sufficiently comprehensive so as to include all pesticide users. We recommend that the Government strengthen enforcement of existing regulations in the amenity sector and consider introducing further regulatory measures to ensure the involvement of this sector.
The VI should continue after April 2006, developing its remit to focus more on catchment-sensitive farming and other water issues. The Government should provide financial support for the national roll-out of the water catchment projects and help to facilitate ongoing professional training, using rural development funds.
Before we can adopt a firm position with regard to the imposition of a pesticides tax, considerably more work needs to be carried out on its design. A properly designed banded tax might be advantageous, though it could be administratively complex. The only justifiable reason for imposing a pesticides tax would be to raise funds to pay for pesticide mitigation action. If the revenues raised from such a tax were not to be hypothecated, then the adverse financial impacts on farmers would make levying a tax unjust.
The Government's delay in bringing forward its national pesticides strategy indicates to us that the sustainable use of pesticides has not been given the priority it deserves. The amenity sector action plan, included in the draft strategy, should be regarded as a priority. The VI's schemes for sprayer testing and operator registration should also be made mandatory. Such an approach should be compatible with forthcoming EU legislation.
Agri-environment schemes and cross compliance measures should complement and encourage a greater uptake of measures in the VI. We recommend that the Government look at ways in which different policy instruments can complement each other in achieving a reduction in the environmental impacts of pesticides.
We consider it vital that the Government now make significant progress with its strategic approach to the sustainable use of pesticides and show a clear commitment to prioritise pesticides issues. The potential effects of pesticides on human health, together with the public concern surrounding this issue, make it even more important that the national pesticides strategy be developed and implemented.
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