New guidelines for managing some of the world’s major pests and diseases offer a myriad of environmentally sound solutions, leading to improved crop production, as well as better health and livelihoods for producers, large and small. 

The publication, Guidance on integrated pest management for the world’s major crop pests and diseases, was developed in partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and provides a rich compilation of ‘best bet’ alternatives for the mitigation of eight global priority pests and pathogens.

Written with the involvement of prominent crop protection experts, the guidelines set out a wide spectrum of tailored solutions, ranging from traditional approaches, such as crop sanitation and good agronomy, to modern DNA-based technologies, marker-assisted breeding, and innovative tools such as robotics, biopesticides or digital alert systems.

The guidelines come as destructive pest problems have rapidly become more and more aggravating across the globe. Fuelled by climate change, biodiversity loss and transnational trade, pests, weeds and diseases now cause USD 220 billion in losses annually for the global agri-food sector.

Two-thirds of tropical pests are projected to soon reach temperate production areas and wreak havoc in the world’s breadbaskets. Voracious pests, such as the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (FAW), have aggressively spread across the Global South, impacting food security and farmer livelihoods.

FAO has been at the forefront of researching innovative integrated pest management (IPM) techniques that have been successfully coupled with Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and their hands-on learning approach. This approach has helped farmers discover the beneficial organisms that occur on their farms and appreciate their pivotal role in regulating pest, weed or disease populations.

IPM-FFS achieved substantial reductions in pesticide use during the 1980s–1990s. Across crops and intervention areas, pesticide use was lowered by one-quarter, while yields increased by 13 percent, enhancing profit (net revenue) by one-fifth and shrinking the environmental footprint of agriculture by one-third. In specific crops such as tea, cabbage, cotton or rice, pesticide use was even lowered by 80–92 percent. This while reconstituting biodiversity and restoring ecological function.

Still, many farmers continue to rely upon chemical pesticides to tackle those climate-triggered or invasive pest threats. In fact, over the past decade, pesticide use rose by a staggering 153 percent in low-income countries. This deepens poverty vulnerability and poses major cause for concern.

“The guidelines offer solutions that are inexpensive, practicable and centred upon biodiversity and agroecology, raising global ambition on IPM,” said Gu Baogen, senior agricultural officer in FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP).

“The time for action is now; let biodiversity bring fortune to farmers!”