Despite efforts to reduce the use of chemicals in farming and horticulture, farmers used 6.9 kgs of pesticides per hectare of land in 2008, up slightly on the 6.6kg used in 2004, the national statistics office CBS said on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, there were wide variations in pesticide use within different sectors, the CBS said.
For example, mushroom growers have cut their pesticide use from 25 kg per hectare to 4.5%. But rose growers have increased their use of chemicals by 40%.
Pesticide use is also down for cabbage, tomato and bell pepper production but up for apples and pears.
The production of flower bulbs has the highest use of pesticides at 42 kg per hectare. Nevertheless, this fell 10% between 2004 and 2008, the CBS said.