I have noted the Ministry of Agriculture recent seizure of back track agri-chemicals in last Saturday Stabroek News with a deep sense of expectation. I write this letter to congratulate the Minister of Agriculture and his officers for this operation that was timely but long overdue and should be done frequently.
I also take the opportunity to advise that these operations should be more robust and sustained throughout the agriculture belt where back track chemicals accounts for 53 per cent of the market share in ‘agri-chemicals sales. These products are often not safely packaged or properly labelled in English.
Sir, it is grossly unfair to pressure the legitimate businesses to pay three per cent of the overall cost of its imports to the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board (PTCCB) while the backtrackers continue to operate with relative freedom and contribute nothing to the government’s coffers to aid in national development. These back track smugglers pay no income tax.
There is the need for a well trained and equipped unit within the PTCCB charged with the responsibility to go after those involved in importing, transporting, storing, selling and using of backtrack pesticides and toxic chemicals.
The present structure and composition of the PTCCB rendered this body impotent to effectively carry out these functions. Such a specialised unit will enable the Board to have sound information gathering and intelligence on the movers and shapers of this underground economy and at the same time develop appropriate strategies to counter this trade.
Finally, how can this body continue to pressure the legitimate chemical dealers for compliance to its sometimes harsh and needless regulations and requirements, when the back track business continue to ‘dance in the rain’ with relative freedom? The Pesticides Board is bureaucratic, unreasonable and requires unnecessary data on well established chemicals.