Spraying herbicide Hongdou 01 "the government opened the herbicide" solid weeding "as a defoliant for red bean, which impacted the food safety of the environment, and the agricultural sector approved the retrogression of the policy.

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In the past, red bean farmers mostly used the herbicide "paraquat" as a defoliant to unify the drying time and degree of red bean plants to facilitate machine harvesting. However, after February 1, 2020, in order to promote the exit policy of highly toxic pesticides and avoid suicide, the government banned paraquat completely, which not only had a great impact on the red bean industry, but also triggered a huge backlash in the agricultural sector.

But unexpectedly, in less than four months, the Ministry of Weifu released the latest pesticide residue allowance on May 20, in which the newly ordered herbicide "Gushu Cao" can be used for drying red bean plants, and the allowable amount is 2ppm. In this regard, the Prevention and Inspection Bureau of the Council of Agriculture said that in the near future, it will announce the relevant usage and scope as soon as possible, so that farmers can have more choices when harvesting red beans.

However, due to the high water solubility and mobility of herbicides (the medicine is transferred to red pods), scholars are worried that if they are not used properly, they may cause disasters to the aquatic environment in rural areas and worries about food safety, while farmers and peasant associations who respond to the government's failure to use herbicides as defoliant, they think that the government cannot stand firm and beat itself in the mouth. "otherwise, why did paraquat be banned but open to kill weeds?"

Red bean fields using herbicides (upstream and downstream data)

The Ministry of Health and Welfare opened the "killing grass" on May 20 this year, causing an uproar in the red bean world.

On the day of this year's inauguration ceremony, the Ministry of Health and Fuzhou issued a press release amending 40 agricultural pesticides, 148 residue tolerances, and 12 drug residues in animal products. On the details of these 200 items, one of them is to increase the herbicide for use in plant drying for red beans, with a residue allowance of 2 ppm.

In response, the Animal and Plant Disease Prevention and Quarantine Bureau of the Council of Agriculture confirmed that, based on the fact that farmers used to carry out pesticide treatment before red bean harvest in order to improve the efficiency of plant drying and mechanical harvesting, the Council of Agriculture has carried out field experiments of fixing and killing weeds in agricultural improvement farms in Tainan and Kaohsiung respectively in October 2017 and February 2018, according to the guidelines of pesticide management law. After determining the criteria of efficacy, non-toxicity and the safest residue. It was passed at the meeting and sent to the Ministry of Health and Welfare for approval of the residual allowance.

Zou Huijuan, deputy director of the Prevention and Inspection Bureau, further stressed that farmers have such needs, and the government must respond to farmers on the premise of taking into account the needs of plant protection and agricultural production. However, when the agricultural sector received the news one after another, not all farmers reached a consensus.

Herbicide as defoliant farmers will be angry if they don't understand.

One afternoon at the end of May, the heavy rain just stopped. The farmers' meeting room of the extension unit of the Peasants' Association in Meinong District of Kaohsiung City has successively entered several rice farmers who pay public grain. Most of these farmers grow rice in the first stage, fallow in the second stage, and grow red beans in autumn and winter. There was a stir at the scene when the Ministry of Health and Fuzhou announced on May 20 that the herbicide "solid herbicide" could be used as a defoliant for red beans.

"Why was paraquat banned in the first place?" , "paraquat is better and cheaper, and decomposition is better than fixing weeds. As a result, it opens up and kills weeds." , "the government can't resist the pressure, it can't hold on any longer!" "won't people who cooperate with the government without herbicides become nerds?" When the farmers talk to each other, everyone scrambles to talk, leaving no gap at all.

Chung Ching-hui, director-general of the Meinung District Peasants' Association, said that in order to ban paraquat, the Council of Agriculture worked hard to promote the replacement of paraquat with nonanoic acid and sodium chlorate, and willing farmers were also willing to cooperate. As a result, they are now open to fixing and killing grass. "isn't the government beating itself in the mouth?"

Chung Ching-hui further stressed in a disgruntled tone, "does the government feel that the nonanoic acid and sodium chlorate, which have replaced paraquat, have failed and that there is no better choice for defoliant for red beans than paraquat, but paraquat cannot be restored?" that's why you open up the herbicide? "

The government has made great efforts to promote the use of herbicides as defoliant, but now the opening of herbicides to fix weeds is seen as a backtrack (upstream and downstream data photos)

Pesticide line: "in the future, farmers will not have to use it secretly."

Mr. Chen, a Wandan bean farmer, supports the government's opening up of herbicides as a defoliant for red beans, but he hopes to keep a low profile, otherwise it will easily lead to misunderstandings. He said that in fact, farmers have long used fixed weeds to harvest red beans. "in Gaoping areas, this is a very common phenomenon, and everyone knows it, otherwise you go to the pesticide shop to ask, the last time the red beans were harvested, the nonanoic acid promoted by the government sold well. Or is it better to kill grass and sell it? "

Mr. Zhang, the boss of a pesticide company in Kaohsiung, said that at present he does not sell nonanoic acid. "because now that there is no subsidy from the government, it is impossible for farmers to buy it. I will buy it when I have a subsidy, otherwise I will not be able to sell it in a pile of stock."

In addition, as soon as the government announced the allowable amount of herbicide in red beans, the boss of a pesticide company in Pingtung immediately said, "that's right, at least farmers won't have to use it secretly in the future." The experienced boss added, "Herbicide is a drug just recommended. The dilution multiple stipulated by the government is very light, and the effect may not be very good. I would suggest farmers to use a mixture of herbicide and nonanoic acid, the ratio is just 1:1."

Although Chang Chih-lie, director-general of the Wandan Township Peasants' Association in Pingtung County, which has the largest area of red beans in Taiwan, openly opposed the ban on paraquat in 2017, now he is reluctant to respond, only in an interview he repeatedly stressed "how the government decrees and what farmers should do." he also called on farmers to take into account the overall food safety issue.

The herbicide is partly mobile, and the efficacy will be transferred to the pod, so be careful about your health.

Zeng Dezhi, a retired professor in the Department of Plant Pathology of Chung Hsing University, is a leader in pesticide research in China. He said that the international use of herbicide as a defoliant is mainly for two kinds of crops, one is potato, the other is sunflower. When used in the part where potatoes are dry vines, sunflowers only need to be absorbed by leaves, so these two crops have little doubt about food residues.

"but will the weeds that are used in red beans harvested and sprayed on the pods be transferred to the beans inside? This requires more careful testing and discussion. " Tseng Teh-chi believes that the 2 ppm allowance set by the Ministry of Health based on the information put forward by the Council of Agriculture is sufficient to prove that it will be transferred to the pod before setting this standard.

Zou Huijuan, deputy director of the Prevention and Inspection Bureau, explained that there was indeed a partial migration effect, so a residue test was carried out especially for dried beans without pods to ensure that red beans with pods removed after harvest could comply with safety standards. She said that the dilution multiples of Tainan Field and Kaohsiung Field were 80 times, 120 times and 200 times respectively. After the experiment, it was found that there was no significant difference in efficacy and damage, and finally 200 times of dilution was selected.

The red bean fields using paraquat are all yellow and dry, without a hint of green.

Prevention and Inspection Bureau: will promote to farmers to protect the environment, scholars: farmers can not rely solely on self-management

According to the revised basis published by the Ministry of Health and Fuzhou, the residue test results diluted 200 times were 0.32-0.92ppm on the seventh day. As explained by Zhou Jianzheng of the Food Section of the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Fuzhou, the Council of Agriculture considers the needs of farmers to carry out experiments and adjustments to avoid misuse and misuse by farmers. "only by setting an administrative control value with a high safety factor will it be possible for the Ministry of Health to allow it, which is very far from the occurrence of toxicity."

However, Zeng Teh-chi still had concerns. He said, "how did 2 ppm come out? I don't know, but red bean has another pesticide residue, and the neurotoxicity of herbicide may affect the nervous system and cardiovascular system. "

Zou Huijuan said that the safe harvest period regulated by the government is seven days, which means that only after seven days of fixing and killing weeds can it be determined that pesticide residues are safe. in addition, the Council of Agriculture also requires that ploughing and transplanting can only be carried out after 14 days of application. Zou Huijuan stressed, "during the meeting, our agronomic experts reminded us to pay attention to the problem of water solubility, and when promoting to farmers, we should also call on farmers to protect themselves and protect crops and the environment."

However, Zeng Teh-chi is very worried about the farmers' attitude and methods of medication. He said earnestly: "Pesticide management is the most important thing. There is no movement in the current botanist law. Is it safe, effective or wasteful for every farmer to use medicine in the field?" Will you do harm to others and harm yourself? "

Herbicide, water solubility and high fear affect aquatic environment, ecological fish, shrimp and frogs may be affected.

In addition, Tseng Teh-chi is more worried about the high water solubility of herbicide, which will have an impact on the aquatic environment. He explained that once it rains or farmers want to irrigate their fields, weeding will follow the water to the surrounding environment, and fish, shrimp, frogs and all kinds of aquatic plants may be affected. Tseng Teh-chih said: "if there is water with a solid herbicide ingredient, the algae will be killed at once!"

"if the government wants to replace paraquat with herbicide, it still has to think clearly. In fact, herbicide is really no friendlier than bala mowing. This is the business of the common people, not just the peasants. " Zeng Dezhi spoke in earnest and came to this conclusion.

Herbicides are mobile and have an impact on aquatic organisms (Photo / Zhang Liangyi)

In order to ban the use of herbicides in red beans, the Council of Agriculture has vigorously promoted alternative materials.

In addition to the banned paraquat and the soon-to-be-opened herbicide, the fallen leaves of red beans actually have other options. In the past, in order to encourage farmers not to use herbicides as red bean defoliant, the Council of Agriculture added "52% sodium chlorate solution" on April 12, 2016 to approve the use of red bean defoliation, where the pods of red bean plants have a maturity of more than 80% to 90%. Farmers can choose sunny days with sufficient sunshine and use sodium chlorate to achieve the effect of drying branches and leaves. However, at that time, the price of sodium chlorate was 2 to 3 times higher than that of paraquat, and it took another 10 to 14 days for farmers to accept it.

Later, after three years of research and development, the Institute launched nonanoic acid in 2018. The Council of Agriculture regarded nonanoic acid as a star product to replace herbicides in red beans. It was not only free for farmers to use during the promotion period, but also provided a subsidy of 3,000 yuan per hectare to encourage farmers to try. Compared with paraquat, nonanoic acid is less toxic and takes only one week to dry, so it is a safe material in the herbicide industry.

However, the use of nonanoic acid will have a strong sour taste and last for several days, coupled with the poor emulsifying effect of the initial formula of the drug institute, leading to complaints from farmers. Xie Fengjia, head of the Biopharmaceuticals and Pesticide Chemistry Section of the Institute of drugs and drugs, explained that now the problem of emulsification has been solved. At the end of 2019, there was cooperation with farmers to spray nonanoic acid solution using drones. As long as the spraying was uniform, the effect was very good. "there is no dissatisfaction among farmers."

Agricultural push personnel: sodium chlorate and nonanoic acid need patience. If you can't get through it, you have to backtrack.

Xie Fengjia said that nonanoic acid is a new product, and 29 companies have launched nonanoic acid, but the raw materials are all imported from abroad. It is hoped that Taiwan fertilizer will develop its self-control ability and strengthen its market competitiveness. "compared with the old farmers, the acceptance of nonanoic acid by green farmers is relatively high, and it is necessary for front-line personnel to explain it in detail when promoting it in an all-round way." When he heard that the Council of Agriculture would open up herbicides for the red bean industry, Xie Fengjia said that he was not aware of the news, but "the research and experimental programs of nonanoic acid will continue."

An agricultural extension worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if it is forced to compare with Bala mowing, there is no defoliant that can match, but the government should insist and give farmers time to adapt. If, after the ban on paraquat, before the next season of red beans are planted and harvested, the remaining allowance for herbicide as a defoliant for red beans will be announced, "isn't it just going backwards and abandoning sodium chlorate and nonanoic acid?"

He repeatedly stressed, "the government should give researchers time to improve, and also give farmers time to explore, and during this period, the government's responsibility is to hold on. As long as it survives, the domestic red bean industry will have a chance to transform."

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