Biopesticide active ingredients get policy support for entrance into Chinese market

China's green pest management area reached nearly 1 billion mu (1 mu = 0.067 hectare) in 2020, with green pest management being applied on 41.5% of major crops to control insect pests and pathogens, which was 18.5% higher than 2015, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China (MOA).

The promotion of biopesticides is imperative for the development of green agriculture. In China, the use of chemical pesticides had maintained a negative growth over the past five years, while the use of biopesticides was on the rise. The promotion of such products is accelerating.

Definition (in China)

• Microbial pesticide: pesticide using living organisms of bacteria, fungi, virus and protozoon or gene-modified microorganism as an active ingredient.

• Botanical pesticide: active ingredients derived directly from plants.

• Biochemical pesticide: meeting both following two requirements: 1) there is no direct toxicity to the target pests, but it regulates growth, disturbs mating or allures pests; 2) natural compound, or the structure is identical to a natural compound in case of a synthesized compound (isomer ratio difference is allowed). It can be semiochemical, a natural plant growth regulator, natural insect growth regulator, natural plant elicitor and other biochemical pesticides.

• Natural enemy pesticide: live organisms (apart from a microbial pesticide) that control pests.

• Agricultural antibiotics: a secondary metabolite with pesticide functions created via a microbial fermentation.

Biopesticide has not been clearly defined in China. However, from a registration policy perspective, the “Data requirement on pesticide registration” makes a separate provision on biopesticides including microbial pesticides, biochemical pesticides and botanical pesticides. Natural enemies are not required to be registered anymore. While agricultural antibiotics and transgenic plants (including embedded plant protectants) are not identified by the national regulations as to their classification as biopesticides. Agricultural antibiotics are often recognized as biopesticides in the industry, while such products are registered following the requirement of chemical pesticides. Genetically modified organisms are subject to the evaluation by the National Agricultural GMO Safety Management Committee in accordance with the “Regulations on the safety control of genetically modified organisms in agriculture”.

Number of biopesticide active ingredients in China and changes in recent years 

Some 121 biopesticide active ingredients (agricultural antibiotics included in this counting) are registered in China, accounting for 16.8% of the total pesticide active ingredients. A total of 3,969 biopesticide product registrations were granted (including agricultural antibiotics), accounting for 8% of the total pesticides. Among the biopesticide product registrations, agricultural antibiotics accounted for about 63%.

In recent years, new biopesticide varieties have emerged on the market. From 2017 to 2020, 72 new pesticide active ingredients were being registered in China, of which 31 were biopesticides, accounting for 43%. The proportion of biopesticide active ingredients has increased significantly in recent years.

Although a large number of biopesticide active ingredients have been registered in China (table 1), the production is concentrated in a few product varieties. The most produced five microbial pesticide products are Bacillus thuringiensis (top 1), Bacillus subtilis, Helicoverpa armigera nuclear polyhedrosis virus, Metarhizium anisopliae and Paenibacillus polymyxa, accounting for over 75% of the total microbial products. The most produced five biochemical pesticide products are gibberellic acid, oligosaccharins, brassinolide, triacontanol and 14-hydroxylated brassinosteroid, accounting for about 70% of the total biochemical pesticide products. The top five botanical pesticides are matrine, camphor, rotenone, TDS and triptolide, which account for about 80% of total botanical pesticides.

Table 1. Active ingredients of microbial pesticides, biochemical pesticides, botanical pesticides and agricultural antibiotics registered in China

(Active ingredients in green are exempt from Maximum Residue Level (MRL). Source: ICAMA)

Policies facilitate registration of biopesticides

The sustainable development of agriculture needs policy support. The MOA proposed an initiative to reduce pesticide use and improve its efficiency, and introduced a series of incentives to encourage the registration of biopesticides. This will greatly promote the market entrance and application of such products, providing more opportunities for the development of biopesticides.

The newly revised “Data Requirement on Pesticide Registration” implemented in 2017 reduces the time consumption in a biopesticide test and registration process. The residue test requirements have been reduced for microbial pesticides, botanical pesticides and part of biochemical pesticides. Of these, microbial pesticides are exempted from 19 environmental toxicological tests; botanical pesticides are exempted from 3 environmental fate tests and 17 environmental toxicological tests, and biochemical pesticides are exempted from 21 environmental toxicological tests and all environmental fate tests.

Moreover, since the implementation of this 2017 policy, natural enemies have been exempted from registration.

On September 30, 2020, the Pesticide Management Division of the MOA issued an incentive that was called the “Implementation of Green Channel Management Action for Pesticide Registration Review”, which was in favor of microbial pesticides, botanical pesticides, biochemical pesticides and agricultural antibiotics produced via biological fermentation, where priority is given to these products that meet the green channel requirements in respect of a technical review which should be processed speedily provided that quality and safety were not compromised. As there is a large number of pesticide registration applications in China each year, the waiting list is quite long. The implementation of the green channel process will help to cut down time for biopesticide registrations.

The National Plan to Boost High-quality Development of Agriculture (2018-2022) has called for accelerated development of green agriculture, which requires great effort being made on promoting the application of green pest management. The policies of the Chinese government are being put in place to create opportunities to promote biopesticides. It is foreseeable that the market entrance of biopesticides will accelerate in the years to come, which will hasten the development of sustainable agriculture in China.

This article was originally published in the magazine 2021 Biologicals Special. 

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