Rapid development of biological pesticides

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 alone, it was returned to $7.4 billion.

As the country with the largest amount of chemical pesticides in the world, China’s control of chemical pesticides has reached a very urgent time. Biological pesticides 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 increasingly attracted people's attention. 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, there are currently three major categories of biological pesticides, Bacillus thuringiensis insecticides, 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.