engleski

Pest management challenges for local food production systems

Protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and promote economic development. In the latter half of the 20th century, pesticides were used primarily to protect plant health, and this practice has led to growing consumer concern about the effects of pesticides on the environment and human health. The European Green Deal set new goals and established a roadmap through the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity 2030 strategy. The use and risks of chemical pesticides are to be reduced by 50% by 2030. In the absence of suitable alternative crop protection strategies, this target could lead to significant yield losses due to pests, diseases and weed competition, weakening domestic food security and leading to higher food imports. This inevitably brings new challenges, namely (i) the reduced number of available and approved active ingredients for pest control ; (ii) the increased risk of developing pest resistance due to the use of a limited number of active ingredients with the same mode of action ; (iii) the consequent abandonment of the cultivation of some crops due to the lack of appropriate means of protection against pests ; (iv) the lack of research at the local level to improve forecasting methods, develop forecasting systems, discover new active ingredients, and develop new strategies to control pests with minimal use of chemical pesticides ; (v) the need for an educational system for farmers to train them in the use of new technologies. To achieve a 50% reduction, farming and food systems must be completely transformed.

European Grean deal, pesticide use reduction, integrated pest management, farming systems

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