China owns about 2.11 million hectares of tea plantation and the yield has reached 1.62 million tons in 2011. As an important cash crop, the residue problems caused by tea protection products are threatening China’s tea exportation and public health.

It has already been stipulated in the “Regulation for the Control of Pesticide” that the hyper-toxic and the highly toxic pesticides are not allowed to be applied on fruits, vegetables, tea and traditional Chinese herbs, however, practical violations are still existent.

By the end of 2012, 777 ICAMA registrations of 65 products for tea crop have been granted, which include 49 insecticides, 5 fungicides, 7 herbicides and 4 PGRs. During the random quality inspection over the last three years, 73 substandard products have been identified from 550 examined samples. 42 of the substandard products have been identified due to presence of unregistered active ingredients, which include endosulfan, terbufos, carbofuran, fipronil, chlorfenapyr, pyridaben, isoprocarb, acetamiprid, chlorpyrifos and hexaflumuron. The first four have been forbidden for use on tea, while other six have not yet gain approvals on the crop.

The ICAMA inspectors cautioned that the unregistered ingredients in the pesticide for tea plantation would cause some negative consequences. On one hand, the unregistered ingredient may result in more pest resistance problems, on the other, the treated crop would be rejected by other importing countries for MRL violations. However, it is also admitted that the portfolio for tea is relatively smaller than that of other sectors and strong policy-preference should be formulated for the minor-crop pesticides. The indoxacarb and other low-toxic& low residue pesticides would be more encouraged to be used on tea crop. Details of the article have been published in a monthly journal, Pesticides Science and Administration.