natural-products-in-plant-pest-management

9 Prospects of Large-scaleUse of Natural Productsas Alternatives to SyntheticPesticides in DevelopingCountriesD.B. OLUFOLAJIDepartment of Crop, Soil and Pest Management, The Federal Universityof Technology, Akure, NigeriaAbstractThe incidence of pests and diseases on crops in developing countries has caused a lotof food insecurity and negatively affected the agro-allied industries. The use of syntheticpesticides has been the only means of combating the pests and diseases toachieve large-scale food production in developing countries due to lack of appropriatetechnology to formulate their own pest control measures. The use of these chemicalsis associated with a lot of problems. The problems of mammalian toxicity,pollution of the environment and high cost of the few available chemical pesticidesare enormous. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) worldwide reacts againstthese problems and encourages research into a better alternative to these syntheticpesticides. The natural products as alternatives are available at all times of the yeardue to their location in the tropical regions, they are easy to formulate, are not toxic tomammals, are less costly and are environmentally friendly. These attributes assist inthe production of cheap and safe food, so the botanicals are assets to developingcountries and encourage their large-scale usage. Extracts from plants such as Azadirachtaindica, and Ocimum spp. are used for the control of various crop pests such ascowpea beetles (Callosobruchus maculatus), and diseases such as wet rot of Amaranthusspp. (Choanephora curcubitarum) and anthracnose of soybean ( Colletotrichumtruncatum).9.1 IntroductionAbout one third of the world’s agricultural produce in terms of plants and animalsare destroyed by a combination of both pests and diseases. In Africa, wheremost of the developing countries are located, most of the food crops are attackedby one pest or another, thereby causing high crop loss (Table 9.1; Ogbalu, 2009).© CAB International 2011. Natural Products in Plant Pest Management(ed. N.K. Dubey) 191