Yap intervenes in aerial spray ban in Davao City

DAVAO CITY – Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has intervened in the implementation of a city ordinance banning aerial spraying of pesticides in banana plantations.

The Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) reportedly asked Yap to intercede on its behalf to push a 25-year period for the banana plantations to phase out aerial spraying of pesticides and shift to ground boom spraying, rather than the three-month leeway given to them.

The city councilor unanimously passed the aerial spraying ban, but leaders of the banana industry had reportedly lobbied with Yap and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte before it could be enacted into a local law.

Yap was slated to meet late yesterday afternoon with Duterte who confirmed that the agriculture secretary had indeed sought amendments to the ordinance.

Duterte, however, said the welfare and health of the people should be given the utmost consideration in enforcing the ban.

"We are in government to protect the people, and that is what we have to consider in the implementation of the ban," he said.

The Davao Medical Society urged the phaseout of aerial spraying within one year, while the PBGEA demanded a 25-year period, saying this would allow the banana plantation owners to cope with the capital expense required in shifting from aerial spraying to ground spraying.

The PBGEA asserted that the three-month period provided by the city ordinance was next to impossible, saying a new mechanism has to be put in place.

The leaders of the local banana industry lamented that the ban would shrink the total hectarage of banana farms since buffer zones for the pesticide spraying have to be delineated.

This decrease in hectarage, according to them, would result in a leaner workforce.