Guidelines On Organization Of Schemes For Testing And Certification Of Agricultural Pesticide Sprayers In Use

The guidelines in this document are addressing government officials in plant protection, environmental and other concerned authorities. They cover the testing and certification of the sprayers currently applying pesticides on commercial farms. The series addresses an urgent need in many countries to ensure that where pesticides are used in crop production, they are applied through equipment, which is safe and fully functional. The issue applies to aircraft, large, field crop and orchard sprayers as well as to operator-carried equipment.

The guidelines in this document outline how governments can influence pesticide safety by controlling the quality of new pesticide application equipment manufactured in or imported into a country. They address government officials in plant protection, environmental and other concerned authorities. By incorporating into national legislation, a requirement for manufacturers and importers to declare that application equipment meets acceptable, international standards of safety and durability, or to set up national or regional testing and certification procedures, it should be possible to gradually reduce and ultimately to eliminate sub-standard application equipment from farms.

The guidelines in this document are addressing government officials in plant protection, environmental and other concerned authorities. They consider the training, testing and certification of those who actually operate pesticide application equipment. Even the most well-designed and maintained applicators can do immeasurable damage in the hands of an unskilled operator and the importance of this guideline should not be under-estimated.

This second edition of the compendium provides brief description of all the technical guidance documents, manuals, toolkits, databases and other resources for pesticide management developed by FAO and WHO. These resources support the standards outlined in the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management by providing detailed information and guidance on how to manage pesticides at the different stages of their life cycle, i.e. from production to disposal of waste. The resources are principally intended for use by governments in low- and middle-income countries but they may also be useful to other stakeholders. The resources cover both agricultural and public health uses of pesticides. The documents listed in this compendium have been prepared, reviewed and adopted by FAO and WHO expert groups including, since 2007, the FAO/ WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Management (JMPM). The compendium will be updated regularly in the future. Older documents included in the compendium are still considered valid as the issues they address have not changed.

This second edition of the compendium provides a brief description of all the technical guidance documents, manuals, toolkits, databases and other resources for pesticide management developed by FAO and WHO. These resources support the standards outlined in the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management by providing detailed information and guidance on how to manage pesticides at the different stages of their life cycle, i.e. from production to disposal of waste. The resources are principally intended for use by governments in low- and middle-income countries but they may also be useful to other stakeholders. The resources cover both agricultural and public health uses of pesticides. The documents listed in this compendium have been prepared, reviewed and adopted by FAO and WHO expert groups including, since 2007, the FAO/ WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Management (JMPM). The compendium will be updated regularly in the future. Older documents included in the compendium are still considered valid as the issues they address have not changed.

The FAO minimum requirements in this publication are based on existing international, European and national standards and other published references. The guidelines provide a practical aid to assist purchasing and other agencies to avoid buying or approving sprayers with quality and design limitations, which could compromise operator and environmental safety. Member countries should adopt them immediately, to begin to eliminate substandard and unsafe sprayers from national markets and ultimately from the international scene.

These guidelines have been prepared to offer practical help and guidance to all those involved in using pesticides for food and fibre production as well as in Public Health programmes. The guidelines in this document cover the application of pesticides using aircraft, including the activities on the ground in support of the aerial application .

These guidelines have been prepared to offer practical help and guidance to all those involved in using pesticides for food and fibre production as well as in public health programmes. The guidelines in this document cover the application of pesticides using any ground-based field crop sprayers, including operator-carried and tree and bush crop sprayers.