‘Nobody Checks’: Buying Banned Pesticides in Montenegro

He confesses he finds it hard to keep up with regulations on which pesticides he can use, and which are banned as too harmful.

On one shelf, powder spills from a bag of the fungicide Mankosav, which contains the active substance Mancozeb. According to the label, Mankosav may cause an allergic skin reaction, can harm unborn children, is very toxic to aquatic life and can have long-lasting harmful effects on marine life.

On one shelf, powder spills from a bag of the fungicide Mankosav. Photo: Djurdja Radulovic

The European Union banned Mancozeb in 2020 and set a so-called 'approval period' of January 2022, the date by which all supplies should be disposed of. Montenegro, as a candidate for accession, aims to comply with all EU regulations, so by the time BIRN visited Milan in mid-2022, his bag of Mankosav should have gone. So too his supplies of Sonar, for which the approval period expired in 2020.

"Every year, they ban something new," said Milan, who lives with his children and grandchildren on a shared property near the apple orchard. "I can't keep up with what we're supposed to use." 

After 20 years of producing fruit, he's scornful of the warnings. "I never used any protection, and I'm still alive."

But it's not just on small farms like Milan's that banned pesticides can still be found. A BIRN investigation shows that such products remain readily available in registered agro-pharmacies.

Montenegro has a higher rate of pesticide use than almost all EU countries, but only 16 inspectors charged with keeping tabs on farmers and pharmacies. In central Montenegro, the most fertile region, there are just four covering five municipalities.

Registered retailers selling banned goods

BRAVO 720, which...