Biological Control Network
The bright moon leaves the branches startled by magpies, and the breeze sings the cicadas in the middle of the night. The fragrance of rice flowers tells of a good harvest, and the sound of frogs sounds. There are seven or eight stars in the sky, two or three points of rain in front of the mountain. In the old days, by the forest of Maodian Society, I suddenly saw a bridge over a stream when the road turned. -Xin Qiji of Song Dynasty
Comment: What a beautiful pastoral picture! This poem mentions four kinds of creatures: magpie, cicada, rice, and frog. It is these creatures that constitute the beautiful scenery of this poem. Frogs and magpies feed on pests. The magpies stand on the ground and the sound of frogs makes the rice fragrant and abundant. Let me ask, if chemical pesticides are abused in farmland and the environment is seriously polluted, how can there be magpies, cicadas and frogs? How can there be a good harvest of rice flowers? Unfortunately, it is difficult to see this kind of intoxicating pastoral scenery now. The reason is the misuse of chemical pesticides. And environmental pollution! If it continues to develop, contrary to what Jiaxuan saw, what we will encounter in the future will be the horrific scene described in "Silent Spring". -China Biological Control Network
For a long time, insect pests have been the main biological disaster in agricultural production. The chemical pesticide industry developed in the 20th century has made great contributions to agricultural production. However, due to the long-term mass production and use of chemical pesticides by humans, pests have developed resistance and secondary pests have increased, which has caused increasing difficulties in the prevention and control of crop pests. At the same time, chemical pesticides have caused increasingly serious environmental pollution problems. Endangering human health and destroying ecological balance, it has become a serious challenge for human society after entering the 21st century (see the "Chemical Pesticides" homepage).
China is a large agricultural country. There are more than 300 species of major crop pests, including more than 30 major pests, which cause an average annual loss of more than 10 billion yuan. It is estimated that in recent years, the area where major pests and diseases occur in China has remained at 200-350 million hectares per year. If not prevented, an average of 15% of grain and more than 25% of cotton will be lost due to pests and diseases throughout the year. In severe cases, there may even be no harvest. Since the 1990s, major pests such as cotton bollworm, beet armyworm, Spodoptera litura, diamondback moth, whitefly, wheat aphid, rice planthopper, East Asian migratory locust, meadow borer and other major pests have broken out one after another. The number of disasters has increased significantly year after year. . However, China still mainly uses chemical control for pest control, and pesticides control pests on an area of 267 million hectares every year. The extensive and irrational use of chemical pesticides has resulted in a 60-fold increase in the number of resistant insect species in 50 years, a 108-fold increase in bollworm resistance in 10 years, and a 300-fold increase in cotton aphid resistance in 5 years. The agricultural ecosystem has been severely damaged. Biodiversity has decreased; environmental and food safety problems caused by the abuse of chemical pesticides have become increasingly serious, which have become important factors restricting the sustainable and stable development of China's agriculture (see the "Chemical Pesticides" homepage).
As early as 1992, Resolution 21 of the "World Conference on Environment and Development" pointed out that by the year 2000, the sale and use of chemical pesticides should be controlled globally, and the use of chemical pesticides should be reduced by 50% within 5-10 years. In recent years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has revoked the registration of 59 chemical pesticides; the European Union has formulated a strategic plan to reduce the use of chemical pesticides; China has also banned the use of 40 chemical pesticides on vegetables and listed "green food and biological pesticides" as It has become one of the priority development projects of China’s Agenda 21.
After China joined the WTO, pesticide residues and harmful substances in agricultural products exceeded standards, which intensified trade frictions in China's agricultural exports and caused huge economic losses. In recent years, in order to protect their own agricultural interests, developed countries in Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries have increased their investment in organic agriculture while continuously improving the testing standards for toxic and hazardous substance residues in food, and restricting the import of foreign agricultural products through technical barriers. At present, the biggest difficulty facing China's agricultural exports is the "green barrier". Since 2002, China’s exports of agricultural products to the three traditional major export markets of Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea have experienced sluggish growth, with exports to Japan only growing by 0.9%. The EU has repeatedly adopted non-tariff measures to restrict imports of agricultural products from China. From January to May 2007, China's agricultural exports to the EU dropped by 23.3% year-on-year. "Green barriers", this technical trade barrier that has caused many agricultural product export companies to suffer, has become the biggest obstacle to agricultural product exports after China's accession to the WTO. Pesticide residues are one of the main reasons plaguing China's agricultural exports. In recent years, relevant countries have formulated more stringent and even harsh inspection and quarantine measures on the grounds of food safety, which has had a considerable impact on China's agricultural exports. For example, Japan has strengthened inspections of fresh vegetables imported from China on the grounds that residual pesticides such as organophosphorus pesticides in Chinese vegetables exceed Japan's Food Hygiene Law standards, and later strengthened inspections of frozen vegetables. It also inspected Chinese Almost harsh testing methods were adopted. At the same time, some Japanese media continue to make a fuss about the issue of excessive pesticide residues in Chinese vegetables, resulting in a decline in the total volume of Chinese agricultural products exported to the Japanese market. According to statistics, the volume of vegetables exported to Japan at Xiamen Port dropped by 12.6% year-on-year from January to August 2003. The volume and export value of vegetables exported to Japan at Shenzhen Port in the first half of 2003 dropped by 27.34% and 51.8% respectively. Since 2007, the European Union has implemented new pesticide residue limit standards for tea. The new standards not only expanded the testing items, but also significantly raised the standard requirements. The export of China's famous Anhui tea and Hangzhou Longjing tea has been greatly affected. Not only that, developed countries have greatly increased the cost of China's exports of agricultural products through the setting of green technology standards, directly weakening the international competitiveness of China's exports of agricultural products. Food safety issues have become the main means used by developed countries to prevent Chinese agricultural products from entering foreign markets. Therefore, it is China's current urgent task to vigorously develop organic ecological agriculture, break down the green technology barriers in developed countries, and put China's agricultural products in a proactive position in foreign trade.
Biological control refers to the use of beneficial organisms and their products to prevent and control harmful organisms. Chinese agriculture in the 21st century should be a stable, modern, green and sustainable agricultural system. In order to reduce the use of chemical pesticides, reduce crop yield losses caused by insect pests, and ensure the security of China's farmland ecology and food supply, it is the need of the hour and the front line of China's agriculture to research and integrate biological control technologies and carry out large-area biological control of pests. of top priority. Biological control technology is bound to become one of the main technologies for China's sustainable agricultural economic development, and occupies a very important and irreplaceable position.
Biological control is based on biological diversity. Agricultural biodiversity is the basis for human survival and sustainable agricultural development, and is also the basis for biological control of pests (see the "Biodiversity" homepage). The intensive agricultural production model of planting a single variety in large areas has led to the reduction of biodiversity in the agricultural ecosystem, the decline in the ability to regulate natural biological factors, serious occurrences of pests and diseases, a sharp increase in the use of chemical pesticides, increasingly serious environmental pollution, and frequent occurrences of human and animal poisoning. The burden on farmers is increasing day by day, food safety is threatened, and a vicious cycle is formed. These prominent social problems have become major hidden dangers restricting the sustainable development of China's society and economy. Giving full play to the role of agricultural biodiversity, continuously controlling harmful organisms, reducing the input of chemical pesticides, reducing environmental pollution, improving the quality of agricultural products, increasing farmers' income, and ensuring the safety of the national ecological environment have become urgent and important tasks faced by the Chinese government. Difficult task. China is rich in agricultural biodiversity resources and has a long history of using biodiversity to control pests, which is in line with national conditions. Therefore, it should make greater contributions to the development of modern agriculture in using biodiversity to control farmland pests.
In the past, biological pest control in China was mostly limited to the control of single pests and crops , and its effects were often affected by chemical control of other crop systems, making it difficult to achieve regional ecological balance and the safety of agricultural products and food. With reference to the successful experiences of biological control based on the protection of biodiversity in the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and other countries in recent years, on the basis of biological control of single crop pests or comprehensive control based on biological control in the past, we should develop multiple crops in the region. Systemic pest biological control will establish and protect biodiversity, protect, introduce and release natural enemies in a large area, and implement biological control in multiple crop systems at the same time to maintain pests and natural enemies in the area. The purpose of balancing the population size is to achieve the goal of improving regional environment and food security, overall improving the quality, yield and reputation of regional agricultural products, increasing farmers' income, and accelerating agricultural modernization.
In recent years, the Chinese government has continuously increased its support for the construction of green ecological agriculture. In 2001, the Ministry of Agriculture launched the "Pollution-free Food Action Plan"; in 2002, the Central Rural Work Conference proposed: "Ensuring the quality of agricultural products is an urgent task at present"; in 2004, the Ministry of Health issued the "Food Safety Action Plan"; In July 2002, the Ministry of Science and Technology listed food safety as a major science and technology project during the Tenth Five-Year Plan, and in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the Ministry of Agriculture, invested 200 million yuan in research on key food safety technologies to achieve "from farmland to Full process control of "dining table"; in 2006, the Ministry of Science and Technology launched the National Science and Technology Support Plan project of "Key Technologies for Food Safety", investing nearly 100 million yuan. These policies and measures have enabled China's green food industry to develop rapidly in recent years. The output of green agricultural products increased from less than 20 million tons in 2001 to more than 60 million tons in 2005, with annual sales reaching 103 billion yuan and exports reaching 1.62 billion. US dollars ("Green Food Statistics Annual Report"). During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China successively established and launched national key basic research and development plans on the mechanisms and sustainable control technologies of major crop diseases and insect pests (973 Plan), National High-tech Development Plan (863 Plan), National Key Science and Technology Research Plan, National Science and Technology Basic Work and National Social Welfare Research Project, Science and Technology Basic Conditions Platform Construction, Ministry of Agriculture’s Key Scientific Research Plan, Agricultural Science and Technology Achievements Transformation, Agricultural Science and Technology A number of important theoretical and technical research results have been obtained through projects such as the Spanning Plan and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, the state will continue to increase support for the construction of ecological agriculture projects. Currently, a number of major projects have been approved, including the National Science and Technology Support Program project "Biological Control of Pests in Regional Agricultural Ecosystems" hosted by Sun Yat-sen University and others. Key Technologies and Demonstrations" (see "Project Introduction" homepage>. These projects and plans have provided unprecedented opportunities for the development of biological control in China.
Biological control is related to the two central issues currently facing mankind, namely ecological environment protection and sustainability. are closely related to sustainable development. International issues such as environmental protection, food safety, and biodiversity have prompted governments around the world to intensify efforts to restrict the use of chemical pesticides. China has also formulated regulations to limit the use of some highly toxic pesticides and the maximum residues of pesticides in food and feed. Quantity regulations. The requirements for environmental protection and food safety must become more urgent and strict. With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, people have higher and higher requirements for their own living environment and quality of life, and they have higher requirements for high-quality, pollution-free agricultural products. The demand continues to increase, making high-quality and efficient agricultural production an important way to increase farmers' income. The development of high-quality, processing, and foreign exchange-earning agriculture requires the guarantee of a series of high-tech including plant protection technology, and requires effective plant protection input products. And its supporting application technologies are used for the control of pests, providing technical support for China to build a stable, modern, green, and sustainable agricultural system.
Related resources:
National Science and Technology Support Program Project-Biological Control of Pests in Regional Agricultural Ecosystems Key Technologies and Demonstrations, 2008
http://club.china.alibaba.com/forum/thread/view/
Science, 2010, 327
Integrated Pest Management: A Global Overview of History, Programs and Adoption
Biological Control and Integrated Pest Management
Impact of IPM and Transgenics in the Chinese Agriculture