On Monday June 26, Didzis Šmits, the Minister for Agriculture, will participate in the meeting of the EU Council of Agriculture and Fisheries in Luxembourg where discussions will be held on the new Regulations of the European Commission on the sustainable use of plant protection products (AAL) and situation in fisheries sector and possible catch quotas in 2024.
To help farmers whose work and income have been negatively affected since spring by draught and heatwave since the beginning of summer, Didzis Šmits, the Minister for Agriculture, will call for EC permission to allow several extraordinary measures in the Strategy Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy 2023-2027. The Ministry is pointing out that it is necessary to introduce urgent measures at the EU level, for example, derogations from the EU requirements regarding non-producing areas, allowing farmers to use their agricultural land more flexibly to eliminate a negative impact of adverse weather conditions on farmers’ income and viability.
Whereas in discussions on the EC objective to reduce by 2030 the use of AAL in the European Union by no less than 50%, Latvia will point out that the deadline for achievement of this objective is inadequately short. Shortage of alternative AAL will negatively affect volumes and quality of crop production. The Ministry has already stated that according to analysis carried out by the EU European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Latvia is among leaders in respect of food safety – food of Latvian origin is free from pesticide residues. The fact that food produced in Latvia is not contaminated proves that Latvian agriculture is still using comparatively less AAL than many other EU Member States.
Concerning situation in the common fisheries, Latvia supports a timely commencement of discussions on fishing opportunities in 2024 and is of an opinion that discussions on this topic are necessary with both sectoral experts and the regional forum of the Baltic Sea BALTFISH.