Guna Karlsone, CSB of Latvia

1. Fulfilment of requirements of the Regulation No 1185/2009 regarding agricultural and non agricultural use of pesticides in Latvia Guna Karlsone, CSB of Latvia

2. Substantiation for collection of data on use of pesticides • Main aim – to meet the requirements of the Directive of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework for Community action to achieve sustainable use of pesticides and to reduce risks and impacts of pesticide use on human health and environment. • To establish a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on placing of pesticides on the market and their use, Regulation No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning statistics on pesticides has been accepted.

3. Substantiation for collection of data on use of pesticides • To meet the requirements of the aforementioned Directive and Regulation No 1185/2009 Member States are developing National Action Plan that envisages actions for the reduction of risks and covers a list of crops for which statistics on the use of pesticides should be produced. Data should represent both crops cultivated and products used. In other words, a sufficient percentage of the UAA should be covered, and at the time, a sufficient proportion of the products used in agriculture should be covered. • The list of products covered by use data should be largely comparable with the list of products placed on the market. It means that no important gaps should be left by use data, and, if such gaps are identified, they should be explained in the quality report accompanying the use data delivery. In practice, it means that data collection should not be limited to the main crops.

4. Timeline for fulfilling Regulation requirements Cereals rape (60% of sown area of agricultural crops) Other crops (potatoes, vegetables etc.)

5. Selectionofthefarms to besurveyed • CSB used the information of the Rural Support Service (RSS) EU direct payment database on cereal and rape areas declared in 2012 as well as CSB Statistical Farm Register data. • Holdings were selected by the following thresholds (100% - full survey): • spring wheat, rye, triticale > 20 ha; • winter wheat, winter and spring rape, mixed cereals > 40 ha; • winter barley, buckwheat > 15 ha; • oats and spring barley > 11 ha. • Below thresholds – sample survey • In total 4000 farms were selected

6. Data collection • Survey engaged qualified regional inspectors from the State Plant Protection Service; it was launched in October and will be finished at the beginning of December. • The survey was developed basing on the «common methodology for the collection of pesticides usage statistics within agriculture and horticulture» (Eurostat publication). • Very useful background for the implementation of the Regulation requirements was obtained during the implementation of the MTF project «Pesticide usage survey in Latvia» in 2007, because data on pesticide usein accordance with a definite data sending format, have to be recalculated in active substances. • Data entry and processing will be done by CSB staff. utt

7. Necessity for pilot studies • As it was mentioned before, Quality Report should include a comparison between data on pesticides used and pesticides placed on the market. • As can be seen, there is incoherence between these two sets, as no information on pesticides used for non-agricultural purposes is available. • With an aim to identify methodology and technical solutions for conducting surveys on non-agricultural use of pesticides, Grant project on pilot studies on estimating non-agricultural use of pesticides, financed and managed by Eurostat, were started in January 2012. • 5 countries (Belgium, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania) applied for the pilot studies. • Latvia does not have experience in collecting statistical data in this area. • In accordance with the Eurostat methodology, commercial and non-commercial use should be distinguished, even the Regulation requires Quality Report to include a summary description of the commercial non-agricultural uses of pesticides obtained within the framework of the pilot studies led by the Commission (Eurostat).

8. Project implementation • Commercial use – collecting information on pesticide use from public or semi-public institutions, private companies, etc. • Includes use for: • public parks and gardens • sports fields (prevalently for golf-courses) • state railway and railway systems in territories of ports • forests • Non-commercial use– user is natural person, aim is not to produce any products for market, i.e., product is used only in private household • Includes use for: • kitchen gardens (16.8 thousand ha or 1% of UUA)

9. Project implementation • Data collection method for commercial users – full survey sending questionnaires by mail; • Drawing list of respondents: • municipalities – (119) • State JSC “Latvijas Valsts Meži” (Latvia State Forests) • State railway etc. Expected problems – how to identify user? (companies hire service companies or natural persons). A certificate granting rights to acquire and use plant protection materials contains only name and family name; • Data collection method for non-commercial users – sample survey on kitchen gardens – interviewers are visiting respondents (2012 and 2013); Drawing list of respondents: • 1000 respondents – kitchen garden owners (information from Agricultural Census 2010).

10. Analysis of the results • Comparisons (data on sale/agricultural use) • Potential threats to environment • Conclusions (how to estimate the non-agricultural use of pesticides, both commercial and non-commercial uses, assessment of sustainability over time). • Finally – European methodological handbook will be prepared.

12. Thank you for your attention!