Commercialization and regulatory requirements of biopesticides in China

Abstract

The development of modern agriculture systems, based on the scientific management of water and fertilizers and excellent crop varieties, has played an important role in ensuring supplies of agricultural products and increased farmers’ income in China. However, the continuous cropping of single crops and intense management of water and fertilizer has actually promoted the prevalence of plant diseases and insect pests, resulting in excess application of chemical pesticides. Currently, the problem of pesticide residue pollution is becoming a critical threat to food security and environmental health in China. To reduce the application of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, “the zero-growth plans to 2020 for the application of chemical pesticides and fertilizers” were proposed by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture on March 18, 2015. As partial substitutes for chemical pesticide, biopesticides are receiving increasing attention from the government and the public in China. In this chapter, the current status of biopesticides in China is introduced, including an overview of the progress in developing biopesticides, the current status of the biopesticide industry, the registration status of biopesticide products, the application status of biopesticides, current registration management of biopesticides, future innovations in the registration management of biopesticides, important progress in research or industrialization of biopesticides, and the use of financial subsidies to promote the application of biopesticides.