Sustainable Pesticide Use: Monitoring and Targeted Interventions in Orchards

Reducing pesticide use in orchards does not mean abandoning crop protection or cutting treatments at any cost. For professional fruit growers, the focus is increasingly shifting from treatments applied according to a rigid schedule to interventions based on effective monitoring of diseases and pests. Such an approach can reduce excessive and unnecessary use of plant protection products, lower costs and decrease the risk of residues, without compromising the crop.

Pressure is coming from several directions. On the one hand, climate change is altering the development of diseases and pests, while on the other, certain active substances are gradually losing effectiveness due to the emergence of resistance. At the same time, export markets, especially European retail chains, have residue requirements that can be even stricter than the maximum limits established by EU and Republic of Moldova legislation. Under these conditions, decisions on applying treatments should begin with observations made directly in the orchard.

Mihail Buciuceanu, agronomy consultant, says that monitoring pest presence and flight activity makes it possible to determine when a treatment is actually justified.

“First of all, pest flight and presence must be monitored. If we monitor, for example, the flight of codling moth and other lepidopteran pests, we know when an insecticide needs to be applied instead of applying it routinely. Intervention should take place when the pest is present, when egg-laying occurs or when the economic damage threshold is reached. Without proper monitoring, we may either have an ineffective treatment or apply an excessive amount of products, with effects on the environment and on the final product,” the agronomist explains.

Monitoring does not exclude preventive treatments. In the case of diseases favored by humidity, Buciuceanu says that weather forecasts can indicate the optimal time for intervention. A treatment applied before a rainy period can prevent infection from becoming established, while intervention after the disease has appeared requires curative products, which do not always provide the same level of effectiveness.

Climate change, however, makes crop protection schemes more complex. Dry periods may reduce the pressure of some diseases, while higher average temperatures create favorable conditions for the emergence of new pests. For this reason, Buciuceanu recommends that orchards be checked by a specialist at least two or three times a week, so that interventions reflect the actual situation in the field.

Another issue growers need to consider is resistance to active substances. Nicolae Pascal, fruit grower at Prodcar SRL, warns that repeated use of products from the same groups can make treatments increasingly less effective.

“Monitoring diseases and pests helps reduce the number of treatments in the orchard. At the same time, one of the problems we are seeing more and more is resistance. There are active substances that have been used for 20–30 years and whose effectiveness is already declining. Repeated application, even within the same season, can encourage the development of resistance. That is why we need to avoid excessive repetition of products from the same group and introduce more contact products and, where possible, biological solutions,” Nicolae Pascal says.

In his own practice, the grower says he is paying increasing attention to contact products and biological or more narrowly targeted solutions. More resistant varieties to major diseases are also expected to gain importance. However, the transition is not without costs: biological products can be more expensive and, in some situations, less effective than conventional products.

For export-oriented growers, reducing treatments also has direct commercial importance. Tatiana Ranga, quality consultant at the Moldova Fruct Association, points out that it is not enough for production to comply only with the legal maximum residue limit.

“Correct and responsible pesticide use contributes to obtaining safe, high-quality fruit that is competitive on external markets. Monitoring diseases and pests, applying treatments only when necessary and respecting application rates and pre-harvest intervals reduce the risk of exceeding maximum residue limits. At the same time, many retail chains are more demanding: they may accept only a certain percentage of the legal limit or may restrict the number of active substances detected,” Tatiana Ranga explains.

This also means that growers need to know where they intend to sell their crop before establishing a treatment scheme. Buyer requirements must be matched with the products used, pre-harvest intervals and laboratory test results. Treatment records and traceability are no longer simple formalities, but tools through which growers can demonstrate compliance and protect their relationships with commercial partners. In this context, Moldova Fruct has developed Integrated Pest Management Guides for cherries, plums and apples, containing practical recommendations, while the Orchard Register is the tool created by the Association to help growers efficiently keep treatment records, monitor diseases and pests, and demonstrate the traceability of their production to public authorities and, most importantly, to commercial partners.

The topic of reducing pesticide use in orchards has also been at the center of a series of activities carried out by the Moldova Fruct Association in partnership with the National Food Safety Agency. During seminars organized in the north of the country, growers, exporters, agronomists and ANSA inspectors discussed maximum residue limits, the responsible use of plant protection products, laboratory testing and the grower’s responsibility within the food safety chain. The topic will also be discussed in detail by specialists from Moldova and abroad during the Fruit Business Conference 2026, which will take place on 3–4 December 2026 in Chișinău.

The importance of this topic is growing as Moldovan fruit producers strengthen their presence on European markets. In 2025, the EU market absorbed approximately 65.7% of Moldova’s plum exports and 53.2% of its table grape exports, while cherry exports to the EU increased by around 29% compared with 2024.

This article is part of a series of materials developed within the PROGRESS project, funded by the German Government and implemented by a consortium of organizations led by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, in partnership with EBA Moldova, IEF, OECD and RECC.