Use pesticides with restraint,
farmers told
KLUANG: Farmers have been reminded not to
take the easy way to increase production by using excessive chemicals as it
will affect the country’s export sector, said Agriculture and Agro-based
Minister Datuk Salahuddin Ayub.
He said such methods would “kill” export opportunities of other agriculture
products.
“We cannot defend our products if our own farmers use harmful chemicals.
And we will act similarly like Singapore if any of the agriculture products
that we import go against our own guidelines,” he said after launching the
Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) Johor 2018
open day here yesterday.
His advice follows news reports that iceberg lettuce from a Malaysian farm
had been recalled by authorities in Singapore after high levels of the
pesticide Fipronil were found in them.
Fipronil is used to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks on animals.
Referring to this recall, Salahuddin said that it should be taken as a
lesson.
“I do not think that we should take the shorter way to ‘beautify’ our
products by using more poisons,” he said.
“We should adhere to guidelines set by countries that import our
agriculture produce because if we do not, then it will harm opportunities for
others that want to market their products overseas,” he said.
On Saturday, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the
Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore had issued a recall of the
iceberg lettuce after it detected high levels of pesticide in the vegetable
imported from Malaysia.
He also said that from 2017 to July this year, 5,297 samples of vegetables
and fruits were taken from the local markets for analysis.
The results showed that 97 of the samples (1.8%) were found to contain
pesticide residues exceeding the maximum residue limit.
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