What can be alternatives to conventional fungicides in African agriculture? We asked that question in a meeting recently arranged by AgriFoSe2030 in South Africa.
There is a demand to replace and reduce many of the chemicals used in agriculture, as one step to make production of food and plant-based material more sustainable. One way is to identify and use naturally derived compounds, so called biologicals, to protect plants. Biologicals can lead to, disease control, soil health improvement, and better nutrient uptake. They can serve as biostimulants, biocontrol agents, resistance inducers or biofertilizers. Crop productivity can be improved by using biologicals. They can be derived from terrestrial and aquatic microorganisms, plant extracts or other naturally occurring organic matter.
In Europe, and as part of EU’s Sustainable Use Directive (2009/128/EG), it’s envisioned that biologicals can come to play an important role in future plant protection, and implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). There is also an increased market interest for biologicals. Estimates tell us that sales of plant biologicals in Europe alone, have gone from $590 million/year in 2014, to $944 million/year in 2018.
Meeting participants at the workshop in Pretoria, South Africa in October 2019. Photo: Erik Alexandersson.
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The use of biologicals in farming in Africa has been poorly studied in comparison to North America and Europe. Therefore, as part of the AgriFoSe2030 programme portfolio, Erik Alexandersson (SLU), Tewodros Mulugeta (Kotebe Metropolitan University), Lerato Matsaunyane (ARC) and Wilma Mac Pherson (the South Africa Biocontrol Organisation, SABO) hosted a meeting on biologicals (titled Workshop on Plant Biologicals for African Agriculture). Several international organizations, including the FAO, were represented in the meeting that took place 10-11th of October 2019 in Pretoria, South Africa.
Representatives of academia, government and industry gave valuable insights into the challenges and possibilities of adapting biologicals, from the academic perspective, as well as from the policymakers, business and smallholders’ perspectives. The meeting was interactive, with short presentations mixed with conversations in break-out groups. Challenges and opportunities for mainstreaming biologicals in African small-scale farming systems were discussed in depth.
One hurdle for deploying biologicals at a large scale in Africa is the regulatory process. Here, several participants raised the importance to bring forward good definitions of what biologicals are and how they are to be used, and to improve communication with governments and stakeholders.
It was concluded that a broad network of scientists, policymakers and practitioners for biologicals can be created to share knowledge between African countries on innovation friendly regulation and deployment strategies. A network could help visualize and share already ongoing research, deployment methods and regulations in the region. It could support a mapping of available infrastructures and competences on the continent. Furthermore, a network could help to identify and share success stories and link to new stakeholders. Luckily, there are a number of national initiatives along these lines and a new pan-African network could be modelled on these existing and emerging national networks.
The meeting received an immediate echo by being highlighted in national South African radio stations Metro FM and 702 thanks to one of the participants, Morule Motlapele from the Bakwild fruit and vegetable company.
Discussions are currently ongoing on how to take this initiative a step further and we anticipate a follow up meeting in 2020, which, very appropriately, has been declared as the International Year of Plant Health by the United Nations. So watch this space, more updates to come.
Erik Alexandersson
Researcher at the Department of Plant Protection Biology
+4640-415338, erik.alexandersson@slu.se