Agliculture ministry suspends ruling on pesticide labeling

Agliculture ministry suspends ruling on pesticide labeling

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Agriculture has officially
suspended the implementation of a ruling on pesticide labeling
after sticker and pesticide producers failed to agree on an
implementation system which would not burden farmers.

The suspension was reinforced through Ministerial Decree No.
81/1996, which was issued and became effective on Feb. 13.

The decree also stated that no suitable system for
implementing the pesticide labeling ruling, has been formulated.

Under Decree No. 770/1995 issued last November, the minister
of agriculture stipulated that pesticides should bear hologram
stickers before they could be sold to protect users from the
distribution of fraudulent products.

The 1995 decree, originally scheduled to come into effect in
April, was greeted with fierce protests from pesticide producers
who complained that such stickers would create additional costs
which, in turn, would have to be passed on to farmers.

Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said last month
that pesticide and sticker producers were still negotiating on
the terms and prices of the stickers. He had earlier emphasized
that whatever compromise was reached, the government did not want
farmers to suffer from the labeling.

The stickers were to be printed and distributed by a private
company, PT Aryo Seto.

Sjarifudin also said earlier this month that the government
might revoke or postpone the implementation of Decree No.
770/1995 if the pesticide labeling turned out to be a burden on
farmers.

The suspension of the pesticide labeling came a few days after
President Soeharto ordered ministries and other government
institutions to revoke levies collected by private sector
parties.

In response to the President's instruction, Bali Governor Ida
Bagus Oka recently canceled his regulation assigning PT Arbamass
Multi Invesco a license to collect labeling levies on beer
distributed on the island. (pwn)