Status report on global Neem usage - Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal

3. NEEM AS A NON-SYNTHETIC PESTICIDE
prices alone is not very helpful, if the above mentioned additional information are not
provided. Even comparison of prices per application per ha are only of limited information
value. The best would be to compare cropping systems which make use of different neem
products. However hardly any models and study exists on this topic.
The importance of information on the cropping system is indicated by questionnaires in
Thailand which revealed that farmers among others apply neem because they observed are
reduction of pest occurrence and a more stable environment (interactions were not
specified). A further example is <strong>report</strong>ed from Kenya where the application of neem
effectively control leafminors in Carthamus flowers, which were already resistant to synthetic
pesticides. The application of neem allow a natural parasitoid Diglyphus isaea to recover
which contribute to control the leafminors effectively in the following cropping periods. This in
turn led to a reduction of neem application. The system neem/parasitoid is much more
economical and sustainable than the application synthetic pesticides (37).
Table 3.4: Approx. Prices* of selected neem pesticides:
Name Country Price/litre
Neemix 4.5
USA, Israel, Egypt etc Approx. 156.00 US$
AMBAC/ FORTUNE 3%
USA
Approx. 120.00 US$
NeemAzal T/ 1%S
Germany 45.00 US$
NeemAzal T /5%
154.00 US$
NeemAzal F, Fortune other products and
others
30
India Approx. 10.00 US$
Neem oil and Emulsifier Germany 11.00 US$
Formulated neem oil
EC formulations
* Due to changes and negoting
Kenya, Thailand,
Dominican Republic
10.00 US$
15.00 US$
One general approach has been chosen in the recent economical evaluation and marketing
study (34) where a rough calculation and comparison of local available neem products and
with neem competing pesticides has been carried out.
LEUPOLZ in Dominican Republic concluded that if only the product price is considered, no
toxicological benefits and middle and long time effects such as the stabilisation of the production
system, in average the prices for neem products are 25-40 % higher than for
synthetic pesticides (35). There are however still a number of selective synthetic pesticides
i.e. products with the same properties and advantages as neem, which are much more
expensive than the application of neem is.
QUENTIN in Kenya has found that the application of the locally produced EC neem formulation
is cheaper than 14 other synthetic competing pesticides while neem cake powder is
cheaper than 28 other competing pesticides (36). For the latter is has to be taken into consideration
that often the application is much more laborious than for EC formulations.