SLU news

Monitoring and reducing pesticide use in farming in Zambia

Published: 03 October 2022

As part of their work to monitor and reduce pesticide use in farming, a delegation from Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), met and discussed with researchers at SLU. The Swedish Chemicals Agency (KEMI) hosted the Zambian visit to Sweden.

Pesticides are chemical or biological products that are intended to prevent organisms from causing damage to human health or property. These harmful organisms can be animals (e.g. insects or rodents), plants (weeds) or micro-organisms (moulds, bacteria or viruses) that can cause harm, e.g. by destroying crops and property, or by spreading and causing disease. The use of plant protection products has positive effects on the harvest of agricultural crops, although it can also result in environmental contamination. Consideration of how best to authorise and use pesticides is therefore a topic of large importance.

The aim of ZEMA’s visit to SLU was to discuss and learn more about how to phase out hazardous pesticides in Zambian agriculture. At the meeting, Paul Egan (SLU Global and Department of Plant Protection Biology) talked about approaches to reduce pesticide use in farming, including integrated pest management (IPM), agroecology and biological control. Bodil Lindström (SLU Centre for Pesticides in the Environment) presented SLU’s environmental monitoring of chemical pesticides. Sara Gräslund (SLU Global) showcased SLU’s work for global development to contribute to Agenda 2030.

- ZEMA and KEMI’s visit provided an excellent opportunity to highlight SLU’s on-going contributions to smallholder plant health in sub-Saharan Africa. ZEMA’s particular interest in legislation led to stimulating discussion, especially on the regulation of biopesticides such as botanical insecticides, biological control agents, and plant defence inducers, says Paul Egan, SLU.

- It is commendable how the Zambian government plans to prioritise alternatives to chemical pesticides, for instance through fast tracking the authorisation of more sustainable substances such as these, Paul continues.

Facts:

Plant health resource package

According to FAO between 20 and 40 percent of crop production are lost before harvesting due to pests. Sustainable pest management is crucial to secure crop yield and to decrease the use of harmful pesticides. It takes advantage of interactions between organisms occurring naturally in the agricultural ecosystems, and other nature-based solutions to control pests. Climate change impacts both the possibilities to use such nature-based solutions and the risk for pest outbreaks. Development of ‘climate smart’ pest management enables more resilient sustainable pest control. Jointly with partners, SLU has developed a resource package for healthy harvests in a changing climate.

SLU Centre for Pesticides in the Environment (CKB) is a partnership forum within the area of chemical pesticides for researchers at SLU and interested parties outside the university. The Centre focuses mainly on fate and effects in the environment of pesticides used within agriculture.  The purpose of CKB is to develop knowledge that allows the effects of chemical pesticides on the environment to be described and predicted in a reliable way and that this knowledge shall lead to countermeasures so that the impact on the environment lies within acceptable limits.


Contact

Paul Egan, Associate Professor/ Researcher
Department of Plant Protection Biology
E-mail: paul.egan@slu.se
Telephone: +46 (0) 40-415162