Biopesticides In Environment And Food Security Issues And Strategies

Contributed articles.

Drivers behind food security and crop protection issues vis-à-vis the food losses caused by pests include rapid human population increase, climate change, loss of beneficial on-farm biodiversity, reduction in per capita cropped land, water shortages, and pesticide withdrawals. Integrated pest management, therefore, becomes a compulsory strategy in agriculture, which offers a 'toolbox' of complementary crop- and region-specific crop protection solutions to address these rising pressures. IPM aims at more sustainable solutions by using complementary technologies and one of them is the use of biopesticides including genetically modified cropping systems. The aim is to reduce pests below economic thresholds utilizing key 'ecological services', particularly biocontrol systems via semiochemicals, biopesticides, precision pest monitoring tools, and rapid diagnostics. In fact, we are facing twin problems of environment and food security for the expanding population and it is necessary to ensure adequate pesticide-free food. The ecofriendly nature of biopesticide products suggests environment protection and safety for natural enemies and non-target organisms. However, their adoption and use have lagged behind due to certain constraints like variable performance under field situations, lack of quality standards and interest by big industrial houses, and cumbersome regulatory procedures. The present book is an attempt to critically debate over all these issues and suggest a road map for future.

This book discusses different approaches for successful pest-management through biotechnological interventions. Pest management is directly associated with the agricultural productivity. The book introduces the reader to various kinds of biopesticides that have been developed and are being developed for field application. Chemical pesticides have been widely used to control pests, and these induce pesticide resistance as well as other environmental problems. This book discusses the necessity to develop alternate pest control strategies, especially environment-friendly and target-specific biopesticides against destructive pests. The book describes important aspects such as microbial biopesticides, plant-based biopesticides, natural products that act against pests and the various other biotechnological advances and limitations of these biopesticides. It provides an in-depth knowledge of the latest research and development in the area of biopesticides. This informative book is meant for students and researchers in the fields of biotechnology, agriculture and applied microbiology.

In their comprehensive paper, Montague Yudelman, Annu Ratta, and Davi Nygaard examine the key issues with regard to pest management and food production over the coming decades. They draw attention to the lack of adequate information on the magnitude and impact of pest losses; without such information, policymarkers are handicapped when devising strategies for meeting food needs. The authors address both chemical and nonchemical approaches to pest management, highlighting the importance of biotechnology. There is growing public sentiment against biotechnology but little appreciation as yet of its contributions to alleviating hunger by, among other things, controlling pest losses. The authors also address the important subject of the roles of different actors in pest management, most notably the private sector.

Ecofriendly Pest Management for Food Security explores the broad range of opportunity and challenges afforded by Integrated Pest Management systems. The book focuses on the insect resistance that has developed as a result of pest control chemicals, and how new methods of environmentally complementary pest control can be used to suppress harmful organisms while protecting the soil, plants, and air around them. As the world’s population continues its rapid increase, this book addresses the production of cereals, vegetables, fruits, and other foods and their subsequent demand increase. Traditional means of food crop production face proven limitations and increasing research is turning to alternative means of crop growth and protection. Addresses environmentally focused pest control with specific attention to its role in food security and sustainability. Includes a range of pest management methods, from natural enemies to biomolecules. Written by experts with extensive real-world experience.

The availability of modern tools and transgenic crop protection technology has opened new vistas in the vast field of pest management. All these issues form the focus of the book, where they have been discussed by eminent scientists who are authority in their respective fields. The book describes the science and art of integrated pest management. It contains 48 chapters grouped into six sections which include topics ranging from: ? Impact on food security ? Breeding for resistance ? IPM in crops, fruits, vegetables ? Future strategies and policy issues. ? IPR related issues It also gives detailed information on emerging strategies and problems such as the role of biotechnology and the implications of IPR issues. The roles of IPM in sustaining food productivity, contribution of IPM in meeting economic, environmental and social costs have been elaborated. The role of diagnostic tools, weather forecasting, transgenic plants, biological control, and new chemicals in future IPM programmes and strategies to meet the challenges of pest adaptation have been highlighted. The need for improved information transfer, implementation and application of IPM has been discussed. Finally, it is essential to know the status of IPM, its future, challenges and constraints which have been extensively elaborated in the last chapter of this book. The book intends to fill the gap by providing the critical analysis of different management strategies having bearing on agriculture sustainability and environmental protection. The compilation of this book is unique in the sense that it does not deal with the conventional way of discussing pest management with respect to particular crops or the regions. It emphasizes on the other hand an overview of the management strategies with critical evaluation of each in the larger context of ecologically based pest management.

The global biodiversity and climate emergencies demand transformative changes to human activities. For example, food production relies on synthetic, industrial and non-sustainable products for managing pests, weeds and diseases of crops. Sustainable farming requires approaches to managing these agricultural constraints that are more environmentally benign and work with rather than against nature. Increasing pressure on synthetic products has reinvigorated efforts to identify alternative pest management options, including plant-based solutions that are environmentally benign and can be tailored to different farmers’ needs, from commercial to small holder and subsistence farming. Botanical insecticides and pesticidal plants can offer a novel, effective and more sustainable alternative to synthetic products for controlling pests, diseases and weeds. This Special Issue reviews and reports the latest developments in plant-based pesticides from identification of bioactive plant chemicals, mechanisms of activity and validation of their use in horticulture and disease vector control. Other work reports applications in rice weeds, combination biopesticides and how chemistry varies spatially and influences the effectiveness of botanicals in different locations. Three reviews assess wider questions around the potential of plant-based pest management to address the global challenges of new, invasive and established crop pests and as-yet underexploited pesticidal plants.

Biopesticide: Volume Two, the latest release in the Advances in Bioinoculant series, provides an updated overview on the active substances utilized in current bioinsecticides, along with information on which of them can be used for integrated pest management programs in agro-ecosystems. The book presents a comprehensive look at the development of novel solutions against new targets, also introducing new technologies that enhance the efficacy of already available active substances. Finally, readers will find insights into the advanced molecular studies on insect microbial community diversity that are opening new frontiers in the development of innovative pest management strategies. This book will be valuable to those prioritizing agro biodiversity management to address optimal productizing and enhanced food security. Explores the increasing number of newly introduced and improved products that can be used alone or in rotation or combination with conventional chemicals Promotes the importance of, and tactics for, managing the agro ecosystem surrounding food security Provides state of the art description of various approaches and techniques for the real-world application of biopesticides