Global Trends of Green Pesticide Research from 1994 to 2019: A Bibliometric Analysis

What is it about?

The fast-growing world population places food production under enormous pressure to ensure food security. One of the most common methods to increase food production is the use of pesticides, but the continuous use thereof has numerous detrimental effects on the environment. The interest in biopesticides for a possible substitute has grown over the past two decades. To determine the research evolution of biopesticides (green pesticides), a bibliometric analysis from 1994 to 2019 was carried out.

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Photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash

Photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The analysis reveals production increased significantly from 2009 and has the most published documents in 2019 with a total of 74 articles. Countries in Europe and Africa however have fewer publications than expected in this field, given the fact that they are high consumers of pesticides. Europe and Africa countries need to intensify their research on alternative pesticides through either government or privately funded programs to promote environmentally friendly pesticides, especially in Africa where pesticides with high toxicity are still being used.