What is it about?
Biopesticides and biofertilizers, the naturally occurring formulations made from the substances that control pests by non toxic mechanisms and in ecofriendly manner, are not newer technologies. They have been used in various forms since human civilization. Biopesticides being a living organisms (natural enemies) or products there of pose less threat to the environment and to human health, hence can be used for the management of pests. One of the most widely used microbial biopesticides is Bacillus thuringiensis, popularly known as Bt. Potential benefits of the use of biopesticides to agriculture and public health programmes are considerable.
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Why is it important?
Agriculture is adversely affected by numerous pests like bacteria, fungi, weeds and insects, leading to reduced yield and poor quality of the produce. Since 1960s, the most common method for pest control has been the intensive use of synthetic pesticides. Such pesticide was adopted in 1940s with the use of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), followed by other organophosphate and carbamate pesticides. Thereafter, Green Revolution technology of crop production could increase food production in developing countries through the intensive use of inputs like chemical fertilizers and pesticides etc. Albeit, the use of the agrochemicals helped a lot in increasing agricultural productivity; they have caused adverse effects on soil health, water quality, produce quality and developed problems like insect resistance, genetic variation in plants, toxic residues food and feed. Moreover dependence on chemical pesticides and their indiscriminate use caused several detrimental effects on the environment. Recognizing the ill effects of the agrochemicals such as pesticide resistance, pest resurgence, outbreak of secondary pests, pesticide residues in the produce, soil, air and water, it has become important now to develop alternatives of these synthetic agro-inputs. The need of the day is to produce maximum from the diminishing natural resources and protect the produce from post-harvest loses without adversely affecting the environment. Use of biofertilizers and biopesticides can play major role in dealing with these challenges in a sustainable manner.
Perspectives
The world production and utilization of biopesticides are increasing at a rapid pace. The interest in organic farming and pesticide residuefree agricultural produce would certainly warrant increased adoption of biopesticides by the farmers. Training on production and quality control to manufacturers, and organizational training to extension workers and farmers to popularize biopesticides may be essential for better adoption of this technology. As environmental safety is a global concern, we need to create awareness among the farmers, manufacturers, government agencies, policy makers and the common men to switch-over to biopesticides for pest management requirements. It is also believed that biological pesticides may be less vulnerable to genetic variations in plant populations that cause problems related to pesticide resistance. If deployed appropriately, biopesticides have potential to bring sustainability to global agriculture for food and feed security.
Dr Suresh Kumar
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Biopesticides: Present Status and Future Prospects, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1385/0-89603-515-8:1.
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