The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development makes an urgent call to producers and exporters in the agricultural sector to comply with the new European Union regulations on the use of pesticides and chemical pesticides in production chains.
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Failure to comply with these guidelines could affect a market that by October 2022 had purchased $2,216 million in Colombian agricultural products.
Minister Cecilia López Montaño assured that this call "obeys the need to maintain access for our products to the European Union, the second most important market for agricultural exports."
He also pointed out that "in order to increase exports and be an agri-food power, it is necessary to understand that the demand for food has changed, which forces us to generate an offer that respects environmental standards."
The new European Union standards are part of the 'From farm to table' strategy, which seeks to implement a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system. In addition, the EU will restrict the entry of products that come from deforested lands and has set a goal of reducing the use of pesticides and pesticides by 50% by 2030.
"The Ministry of Agriculture is ready, together with its affiliated entities, to support growers in the transition towards more environmentally responsible production methods," stressed Minister López.
For his part, Jorge Rojas, Colombia's ambassador to the EU, stressed that “the European Green Pact constitutes the main challenge for Colombian agricultural exports to the European Union. To minimize the impact of the measures and move towards sustainable agri-food systems, without leaving anyone behind, Colombia calls for cooperation and technical support from our EU trading partners."
Colombia must also strengthen the availability of a greater number of biological controllers in the market to achieve cleaner production with less impact on the environment.
In the last year, global exports increased to such an extent that in October they reached USD 9,768 million, which represents a growth of 28% compared to the same period in 2021 when USD 7,638 million were reported.
The Colombian products that reach abroad the most are still coffee, bananas and flowers, which participate with around 63% of the international market.
The remaining 37% corresponds to non-traditional basket products such as palm oil (8%), sugar (3%), beef (2%), avocado (2%), cocoa (1%), tilapia (1% ), Tahiti lime (1%), gulupa (0.5%), cape gooseberry (0.3%), among others. ■