ICGEB has signed a sponsorship agreement with CABI for work on Biopesticides.
ICGEB (under the auspices of its STDF funded project Enhancing trade through regulatory harmonisation and biopesticide-based residue mitigation in the SADC region, being implemented by the ICGEB Biopesticides Group) has signed a sponsorship agreement with CABI.
The sponsorship agreement is to support the development of a database and website to serve as a global information resource of registered biological control products, to help users to identify, source and correctly apply biological control products for the management of crop-pest problems.
The database (the CABI Bioprotection Portal) is useful to, among others, growers and advisors who need current, and reliable information, on-demand, regarding the availability and correct use of effective, lower toxicity products that are registered locally and meet market requirements; growers who are looking to replace the use of some chemical pesticides with biological products to meet market/export standards, or simply to increase the range of biological products that they currently use; biocontrol manufacturers who are looking to promote wider uptake of their products; governmental regulators (pesticide registrars) who require information on registered products in neighbouring countries; and private sector decision-makers, e.g. stakeholders working with outgrower schemes, cooperatives and organisations operating voluntary certification schemes.
‘One of the challenges preventing the widespread use of biopesticides remains the dearth of information regarding products that are already available in the market. This free web-based resource – accessible via smartphones, tablets and desktops – will go a long way towards addressing this challenge, and hence promote the registration, commercialization and use of biopesticides by growers‘ Dr. Dennis Ndolo, Group Leader, ICGEB Biopesticides Group
ICGEB looks forward to working closely with CABI on this initiative.
With special thanks to CABI Marketing Team for their contribution and permission to use these images