2023-04-16 06:05:00
In Wallonia, setting up a nitrogen plan does not pose as many problems as in Flanders. As such, the Walloon government agreed on an agreement concerning its nitrogen plan on February 22 of this year, without the debates being as explosive as on the Flemish side.
Asked regarding this different aspect of things in the south of the country, a few weeks ago by Free, the Walloon Minister of Economy and Agriculture, Willy Borsus (MR), explained that the situation was very different in Flanders. “94% of the pigs raised in Belgium are raised in Flanders.” There are certainly some intensive pig farms in Wallonia and these are obviously affected by the nitrogen plan. “But the agricultural model in Wallonia is very different”, insists Minister Borsus. The farms are much smaller than those found on the Flemish side.
These nitrogen plans which must be “adopted every 4 years. Ours passed to the Walloon government without incident”.
Several advances in the Walloon plan
On the side of the office of the Walloon Minister for the Environment, Céline Tellier (Écolo) who brought the text to the Walloon executive, the content of the nitrogen plan was specified. “This update aims to strengthen the protection of groundwater from pollution by nitrates from agriculture and to put an end to the litigation procedure opened once morest Wallonia by the European Commission in 2014”explains Céline Tellier.
The new version negotiated in February 2023 allows several advances: “First of all, the specificities of the soils must be taken into account in order to adjust the spreading of nitrogen and thus avoid an excessive supply and the risk of runoff. Then there is the establishment a register of nitrogen fertilizations to strengthen the control of compliance with spreading standards. Finally, there is a reduction of storage times outside infrastructure, reducing its impact on the environment”. These various amendments make it possible to strengthen the standards in force for the protection of water once morest pollution of nitrates from agriculture.
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