Author: Merxhan Daci
As soon as you pass Ndroqin, in the small greenhouses and courtyards of the houses you can easily see the seasonal vegetables planted at the gate of everyone, these products are sold on the spot. Meremja started very simply, she planted for family expenses, but then she gradually continued to sell tomatoes and spinach from hand to hand. When the family was convinced that it was profitable, they turned those few meters into a work front where all four members focused. The yard is always planted and at the gate there is a stand full of produce. The woman repeats that the products are organic and that's why the citizens who stop either returning to Tirana or traveling to Durrës buy them. But on the spinach leaves that have just been sprinkled with water "so they don't wither" - she says, the signs of spraying are visible. Probably from last night. "They are so that the worm doesn't eat you," says the 52-year-old for "Sinjalizo" and then adds without gloves that "I sprinkle them with my eyes, I throw the mass like salt on a dish with my eyes."
But for the question of whether the farmers are informed about the use of pesticides, the expert Alban Lila has as an explanation the lack of "abc" of the agricultural culture, because according to him, the Albanian farmers do not respect the deficiencies, which in other words is called the time that prohibits the use of the plant that has been treated with pesticides. According to Lila, this means not releasing the product to the market within a certain period. "You have to learn to use, or respect the waiting periods, for example if you spray with a product where the waiting period is three days, you should not harvest those three days. If you are 7 days late, you should not vomit for 7 days. Many years ago in Albania it was not implemented because they didn't even know about it. Today they are applied because the production that is sold is subject to analysis. Even the one who does not respect it will be tested and the goods will be returned. The domestic market, I personally think, has the biggest problem with imported products, because an imported tomato can arrive that sits for a month after being harvested, its quality deteriorates", says Lila.
Fadil Mara, importer of agricultural inputs, shares the same opinion. He points out that all pesticides have instructions for use written on the label, but adds that more education for farmers should be added.
"The shelf life is very important even for those of us who operate in this field, the first thing we must signal despite the fact that they are all written on the labels, inform him that this product has a shelf life of 2, 3, 7 or even 20 days. Most farmers are aware and know it. But for farmers who are not informed we are obliged to inform them, and it is absolutely important to respect for a consumer", says Mara.
The fear that in Albania plants are not treated according to EU standards
In recent years, Albania has received a lot of expertise from the European Union for the use of pesticides. As mentioned in the progress report of the European Commission for Albania for the year 2020 (which is the last one published), our country has relied heavily on expertise in agriculture, but still has not aligned it sufficiently with the legislation of the European Union. "Albania adopted a new law on quality policy, which is partially aligned with EU legislation. The level of alignment with EU legislation on organic agriculture remains low", is quoted in the progress report.
Also in this report, the authorities are criticized for not having implemented all the recommendations made a year ago and that agriculture has many problems that must be fixed in a short period of time. Despite these criticisms coming from the European Commission, expert Alban Lila says that Albania is trying to adapt to EU standards. "Our country follows EU legislation, every rule that is made there is also applied to us. Two years ago, the EU removed from circulation many active substances for the protection of plants that were old, or with residues, and they are not allowed. Even in Albania they have left the market. When the EU decides that it will not allow a product, it is sold for the time it is on the market, but its production is no longer allowed. When he finishes he exits the market. As long as the products come from serious companies, they are all within the standards", argues Lila.
Pesticides on the table
Spring and summer are the most productive seasons, as this is when most fruits and vegetables come to market. But many of the fruits and vegetables that are of these seasons circulate in the market and at other times of the year, raising suspicions that they have been grown with chemicals and are not organic. Farmers and authorities admit that pesticides are used in the country, but add that their use is used to protect plants from insects and various diseases and not to prematurely release various products to the market.
The term "pesticide" is commonly used as a synonym for plant protection products. Pesticides are intended for non-plant uses to control pests and disease vectors such as insects etc. Experts suggest the use of these chemical products to prevent various diseases that can affect plants. Pesticides play an important role in maintaining the yield of agricultural crops. However, pesticide residues can potentially be harmful to humans if they get into the food we eat.
But according to reports, it is known that the use of plant protection products, including pesticides, has not been properly monitored by public institutions. For this reason, room has been left for abuses and food safety has been compromised.
HSC alert on the use of pesticides
The High State Control in an audit conducted in recent months reveals that the institutions have left the monitoring of the use of pesticides in the country to the mercy of fate, since the necessary numbers of control and monitoring bodies have not been met. According to the audit carried out by the SSC, it is estimated that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has carried out structural reforms which have not fully served to increase the effectiveness of the management of PMBs and food security.
"In order to be more effective and efficient, the restructuring should be accompanied by an increase in the number of professional staff, respecting the criteria according to training, professions in the field of agriculture, their training and testing, especially in plant protection structures throughout the management chain. of PMBs, but also of administrative capacities. The changes in the administrative structures of the Ministry of Education and Culture's institutions have not been carried out based on needs, complexity, clear evaluation criteria, policies for a better management of PMBs, as well as best practices. So this shows an ineffectiveness of frequent structural changes in the realization of the management goal of PMBs", it is stated in the KLSH document.
Also, this institution assesses that the government has not supported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development enough with funds and number of employees, and in this way the control and monitoring bodies have not been adequately filled.
As explained in the table, in the last three years, the Ministry of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports has had from 21 to 36 monitors less than the planning that was done at the beginning of each year. According to the Supreme State Control "this shows management incompetence of human resources and lack of planning not based on objective needs in fulfilling legal obligations".
On the other hand, the report also expresses reservations about food safety, since controls on the use of plant protection products are not treated with importance by the authorities.
"The lack of giving the importance of food safety and the control of the chain of trade and use of plant protection products has resulted in this process being left in the secondary and tertiary aspect of the MBZHR policy-making and not having funding with short-term and long-term investment program", this is the conclusion of the KLSH.
Experts: Agricultural products in Albania are safe
Experts always suggest the use of pesticides to protect plants from various diseases. According to them, in the times we live, plants are endangered by the various viruses that circulate and it is a necessity to use chemical elements to spray the leaves and flowers during the process of growing fruits or vegetables.
Alban Lila, distributor of chemical fertilizers in Albania, in an interview for "Sinjalizo" is of the opinion that farmers in the country do not abuse the use of pesticides and adds that local products are of a very high quality. Lila also adds that when Albanian products are exported to the EU, they have passed several filters that make them safe for consumption.
"In Albania, there has always been the idea that farmers abuse, but our farmers actually produce a super production because almost 90% of the production that is made in Albania is made for export. It undergoes all the tests in the countries it goes to and there is no problem of any kind. The moment the EU allows you to export a product, you consume it yourself, it means that you have a super quality product", He says.
On the other hand, Fadil Mara, importer of agricultural inputs, says that the competition has caused the quality of pesticides to increase a lot and their use to be very controlled. "The competition has made most of the people who bring products from abroad to introduce them to the market and try to be of the best quality, from this point of view there is also some quality in what is introduced in Albania. This does not exclude the possibility that low-quality goods are introduced to this market, but in general traders try to bring the best quality products because they cannot sell them.", says Mara.
Agronomist Gazmir Cufo explains to "Sinjalizo" that farmers should take care to choose quality products and not fall prey to fraud, being lied to by the price, because in addition to killing the plants, they also kill themselves. He admits that there are also abusers, but adds that farmers have received information about the safety of pesticides and should be aware of the products they use.
"We hear that there are abuses but we are dedicated to our products. There are also abusers, but we provide consultancy to farmers", he explains.
Pesticides threaten, but where is AKU?
According to the law "On food", a food is inedible when it contains "residues of pesticides, veterinary drugs, metals and other substances, harmful to human health, in quantities greater than those allowed". But even though the law is very clear about food safety, there have still been complaints from private institutions and citizens that the products being sold have been contaminated.
The National Food Authority, which is one of the authorities responsible for food safety, reports that it has carried out periodic checks to detect the marketing of products with pesticides. In various daily reports, the AKU clarifies that it has carried out checks at the end points of trade and has occasionally seized samples for further examinations and after analysis they turned out to be high in pesticides. But even though the AKU announces that it carries out checks throughout the country, the KLSH in a recently published report cites that no analyzes have been carried out either by the AKU or by the ISUV.
Meanwhile, the National Food Agency said in a response to "Signal" that in total for the period June 2021 - April 2022, from the updated information it appears that out of 875 samples taken in total, the results obtained from the analyzes carried out in the ISUV laboratory they talk about 206 compliant samples, 37 non-compliant and 632 samples still awaiting the response of the analysis result.
"The non-conforming samples are: peach (15), carrot (1), lettuce (2), melon (1), tomato (2), apple (2), potato (2), pepper (2), table olives (5) ), spinach (2), cucumber (1) and table grapes (2)", AKU said in response to "Signalizo".
Referring to the announcements from ISUV about non-conforming results of analyzes for the level of pesticide residues in the above-mentioned fruit and vegetable products, from the DRAKUs of the counties where these samples were taken, in the relevant subjects, AKU announces that measures have been taken based on the legislation in force .
"According to the subjects' addresses, the samples taken belonged to the counties: Tirana 10 samples, Lezhë 6 samples, Shkodër 5 samples, Fier 1 sample, Gjirokastër 3 samples, Korçë 1 sample, Elbasan 3 samples, Vlorë 1 sample, Berat 3 samples and Durrës 3 samples.”
Due to the lack of a traceability system as a legal requirement for 9 subjects, administrative fines (in the amount of ALL 100000 each) have been imposed for violation of Article 25 "Requirements for food traceability".
For imported products, referring to the traceability system, in 5 cases the problem was forwarded to the Directorate of Risk Assessment for the notification of the RASFF (Rapid Alert for Safe Food and Feed) system for taking measures to notify the authorities of the countries where the imported products came from. The imported products sampled belonged to the matrices: peach (3), carrot (1), tomato (1) and apple (1).
KLSH: No controls were carried out for pesticides
The High State Control in a recent report states that pesticides in Albania are used in an uncontrolled manner and are endangering the lives of Albanian citizens. According to the report, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Institute of Food Safety have not taken any measures. Even the vegetables and fruits that we consume go to the market without first being checked for the level of pesticides, since no analysis is done by ISUV. KLSH in the report cites that for the period 2018-2020 ISUV, as the responsible institution, did not perform the necessary analyzes initially for the type of pesticides used, leaving room for the use of highly toxic types.
"The malfunctioning of the quality analysis laboratories of PMB, as well as that of their residues in plants and products of plant origin of ISUV and AKU, we clarify that: ISUV has full technical capacity in the function of analyzing PMB and their residues in plants and plant products. During the years 2018-2020, the qualitative analyzes of PMBs were not carried out, as we were not able to provide kit-reagents, basic laboratory materials necessary for this analytical process. These analyzes are included in the annual Risk-Based Plan of AKU which is not foreseen in the budget approved by the Competent Authority for ISUV as a dependent institution. Also, the plan related to the PMB champions has arrived late in ISUV", says the report.
Further, KLSH clarifies that according to ISUV, the lack of analyzes came about because they did not have enough funds available. This shows once again that the state's attention to food safety is minimal. Based on this situation, KLSH asks ISUV and AKU to take measures to increase capacity, to increase investments in infrastructure, to increase work efficiency and citizens to be more secure about the food they consume.
