Agricultural production is transforming

With people's increasing attention to environmental protection and their own health, China's agricultural production is beginning to change from quantity to quality and safety. Biopesticides have become a major trend in the development of the pesticide industry and will usher in a period of rapid development.

Although chemical pesticides have made great contributions to agricultural development, they have high toxicity, and there are many pesticides in plants. They will infiltrate soil, rivers, or groundwater, affect people's health, reduce soil quality, and cause environmental pollution. Due to the long-term use of certain chemical pesticides, the resistance of insecticide-resistant insects has expanded from the initial dozen to more than 400. With the increasing importance of environmental protection factors in international trade, the export of agricultural products in China has been seriously affected by pesticide residues. In 1998, it was returned to US$7.4 billion.

As a country with the largest amount of chemical pesticides in the world, China’s control of chemical pesticides has reached a very urgent time. Biopesticides are pesticides that are derived from organisms and have specific control effects on specific pests and are extremely safe to the public. Due to the strengthening of environmental protection awareness in the 21st century, the negative effects of chemical pesticides have been increasingly valued by people. Efficient, safe, economical, easy to use, and environmentally compatible biopesticides have therefore become the development direction of pesticide products. In addition, the development of new varieties of chemical pesticides often requires investment of hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars and takes several years, while the development and investment of biological pesticides is relatively small, the cycle is short, and the use of biological pesticides is close to that of chemical pesticides. Economic and social benefits.

According to experts, biopesticides now mainly have three major classes: Bacillus thuringiensis insecticides, viral insecticides, and plant insecticides. Bacillus thuringiensis insecticide is currently the most successful pesticide for research, development and application of biological pesticides, accounting for more than 90% of total biological pesticides. It can control more than 150 species of lepidopteran pests and its efficacy is 55% higher than that of chemical pesticides. It not only avoids the disadvantages brought about by chemical pesticides, but also has a stronger control effect than chemical pesticides. It shows the great role of biological pesticides.

China plans to make use of biological pesticides account for 30% of total pesticides by 2005, accounting for 50% in 2015. At present, the consumption of pesticides in China exceeds 1.5 million tons per year. Based on this ratio, the amount of pesticides to be produced in 2005 will be 450,000 tons, and in 2015 it will reach 750,000 tons. At present, the annual output of biological pesticides in China is only 8,000 tons. Less than 1% of them have obvious development potential.

In 1992, the “World Environment and Development Conference” clearly required that the sales and use of chemical pesticides should be controlled globally. The use of biological pesticides should gradually reach 60% in recent years. The United States, Britain, Japan, Brazil and other countries have ordered the gradual elimination of chemical pesticides. At present, the proportion of sales of biopesticides in the global market has reached 20% of the total amount of pesticides, and sales amounted to 8 billion US dollars. However, the market share that has reached 60% in recent years still needs rapid development.

In order to encourage the rapid development of biological pesticides, the Ministry of Agriculture and the petrochemical administration have adopted corresponding support policies for the development of pesticide production. Chemical pesticide residues have been strictly monitored and created through the creation of a “national pesticide-free residue-safe vegetable (fruit) activity”. Around the country, vegetable and fruit production and sales are strictly managed, and some local governments also implement a subsidy policy of up to 50% for users of biological pesticides. China has designated biological pesticides as a key research project in the 863 high-tech plan and the mid- and long-term science and technology plan for 2015. Experts predict that China's biological pesticides will develop rapidly in scientific research, production and marketing.