Author
Debbie Muir
dmuir@dffe.gov.za
Department Of Forestry, Fisheries And The Environment
Cape Town, South Africa
Coauthors
Dennis Ndolo, Biopesticides Group, The International Centre for Genetic and Engineering and Biotechnology, Cape Town, South Africa
Abstract
Sub-Saharan states in Africa were the main net exporter of food on the African continent before 2000. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 13% of the world’s population but now carry a net food deficit of $7 b, accounting for less than 3% of global agricultural exports. This massive decline in exports is in part due to growers’ heavy reliance on chemical herbicides leading to failure in complying with the residue standards in export markets. This is further compounded by ever-decreasing Maximum Residue Limits which are a technical barrier to trade. Overuse/misuse of chemical herbicides results in significant environmental, ecological & human health impacts. Bioherbicides and classical biological control agents show potential for reducing the use of chemical herbicides, although they currently represent a very small percentage of the global pesticides market. Bioherbicides and classical biocontrol agents are still evaluated and registered following the same system as for chemical herbicides. This causes unnecessarily high and inappropriate regulatory burdens for biological weed control product developers. The establishment of more tailored and harmonized regional mechanisms for evaluating and registering bioherbicides and classical biocontrol agents in the sub-Saharan states would make it possible to increase the number of bioherbicide products to market as states with common regulatory practices would be able to benefit from data or registrations developed elsewhere. This approach would also permit limited resources to be shared amongst member states of the Southern African Development Community and improve the regulatory management of bioherbicide and classical biological weed control agents.
Keywords
biopesticides
export
harmonization
chemical pesticides
residues
Highlights
Bioherbicides substituted for chemical herbicides in late season applications reduce MRL’s.
Regional harmonization of bioherbicide regulations facilitate trade
Bioherbicides uptake in SADC countries can assist with the phase out of Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs)