Worldveg holds consultative workshop on bio-pesticide adoption

World Vegetable Center Ethiopia held a consultative workshop on biopesticide regulation on August 9, 2022, with participants from both private and government sides engaging in the workshop discussing on policy gaps and bottlenecks in production, introduction and application of bio-pesticides as an IPM component. “Even though through time we are seeing changes in the agriculture sector, yet the vegetable sector is backward than others, one of the problems is finding eco friendly bio pesticides,” said Webetu Bihon, country representative of World Vegetable Center to Ethiopia, indicating that introducing and promoting the production of local eco-friendly pesticides using local plants as a mandatory solution. “Few have been formally recommended pesticides and the ones being used in Ethiopia are imports from Kenya and Holland,” Webetu explained.

As indicated on the session, Bio- led management of pests’ coverage is also small but gradually increasing in the ornamental sector.

“Provided they are applied correctly, bio-pesticides can provide excellent control of pests and have a host of other positive attributes that surely make them the weapons of choice for the future sustainable pest control; it also has a potential to expand greatly as products are improved and better methods for using them in IPM systems are developed,” the county representative underlined. As pest’s importance will increase with the current and the future state of agriculture in Ethiopia, the session recommended public institutions, donors, NGOS, actors to support the ways and means of commercialization and use of bio-pesticides and also to place policy, regulations, directives development and implementation that promotes biopesticides and minimizes the use of synthetic pesticides.