The largest scientific council in Mexico, Conacyt, has recommended reducing herbicide imports by 50%. glyphosate this year, amid a government plan to completely eliminate its use by 2024, despite the rejection of the local agribusiness.
The Conacyt He recommended a maximum import quota of 8.26 million kilos of formulated glyphosate and 628 616 kilos of technical glyphosate, which he said was 2.6 times more concentrated.
The agency said in a statement posted on its website that the amounts represent a 50% decrease compared to the recommended ceiling for last year.
The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, issued a decree at the end of 2020 aiming to weed killer by 2024, to join other governments that have tried to limit its use. The president described the chemical as toxic.
The government’s plan is also to transgenic maize for human consumption by 2024 and replaces bulky grain imports, almost entirely from the United States, with local production.
However, the most important agribusiness organization in the country, the CNA, condemned the plan, arguing that neither the herbicide nor the transgenic maize they are harmful to health and he pointed out that it would only affect the productivity of the Mexican countryside, in addition to the fact that it is impossible to replace the millions of tons of imported yellow maize in the short term.
An ANC spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the ANC recommendation. Conacyt, which indicated that 50% of imported glyphosate is applied to maize and citrus crops.
The planned ban is popular with environmentalists and food safety advocates who argue that spraying glyphosate in GM crops designed to tolerate it is really harmful.
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Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx