Farmers and growers have always used some natural methods to both deal with plant pests and diseases as well as to strengthen the soil.
After all, what is compost but decomposing vegetable matter which is then put back into the soil to improve its richness, fiber content and the nutrients plants need for growth.
Plant extracts were arguably the earliest agricultural bio pesticides, as history records that nicotine was used to control plum beetles as early as the 17th century. There were also experiments using mineral oils as plant protectants in the 19th century.
Bio pesticides most frequently used on specialty crops like specific fruits. A 2006 study estimated that orchard crops had the highest rate of bio pesticide use at 55%.
Bio pesticides are derived from natural materials like animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals. Plants like mint, neem, papaya and garlic as well as baking soda have applications as pesticides and are considered to be bio pesticides.
It was after the 1960s that modern bio pesticides research really took off following a change of attitude to chemical-based pesticides that were widely used during the 1960s and 70s and the attitude change is often attributed to Silent Spring, a book by American naturalist Rachel Carson.
The book the severe effects of organochlorines on humans and the environment; the book triggered the environmental movement and also led to subsequent bans on organochlorine pesticides.
Dave Moore, senior researcher in invasive pest management at the Center for Agricultural Bio science International (Oxford, UK) suggests that more and more organic farming is embracing bio pesticides, especially in the developing countries of Africa and newly-industrialized emerging economies like China and India.
He said: "In many parts of the world biopesticides are accepted easily, where available, and are seen as totally compatible with organic."
In India, for example, anyone cultivating vegetables in a residential area is required to use only bio pesticides. The Asian and Australasian market for microbial- and nematode-based pesticides is estimated to be worth approximately $132.5 million per annual and has grown by 35.7% since 2004.China, India and Japan are thought to be the three largest markets in the region, and most of the products used have been researched and developed locally.
In Europe the estimated market share is 26.7% and again is projected to grow. The most widespread use of biopesticides is in the US.
One of the main difficulties in promoting wider use of biopesticides and other low-chem agricultural products is that they tend to be geographically limited in use and locally-specific in their effects on pests, viruses or fungi.
This makes them costly to research and produce, apart from the costs and time involved in getting them through the trial and registration process, while at the same time limiting the market in which they can be sold.
There is now a growing body of evidence that they are better for the environment, the land and for growing healthy, natural food free of chemical residues and that they have the potential to contribute to reduced damage of the soil as well as reducing the widespread incidence of hunger in less developed parts of the world.
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