Status report on global Neem usage - Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal

SUMMARY
Summary
This study <strong>report</strong> aims to provide an overview of the current status of neem usage throughout
the world, its key focus being on the use of neem as a non-synthetic pesticide. Those projects
with neem components conducted to date by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische
Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH and those projects by other organisations and institutions
which concentrate on neem as a key area of activity are taken as a basis on which to present
the various methods and technological approaches as well as the problems involved in the
usage and acceptance of neem.
This summary is designed to provide a brief overview of the key results obtained in the study:
The neem tree is found in no less than 78 countries world-wide and is used in a further nine.
The overall global occurrence is estimated at somewhere between 64 to 91 million trees,
whereby South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa constitute the main areas of distribution.
The neem tree has been used for over 3000 years, the following forms of usage being
common in more than 50 countries: natural pesticide, planting and afforestation as shade
trees and to protect against erosion, medicinal plants.
The greatest potential for use focuses on the various neem-tree components, in particular
the seeds or their contents as natural pesticides. Both simple home-made insecticides and
ready-to-use, neem-based pesticides are applied. Until the mid of the nineties, home-made
insecticides were the most wide spread and are used either directly in the form of raw materials
or as simple aqueous extracts. The farmers mainly obtain the requisite raw material
from the seeds of their own neem trees or from trees in the surroundings.
Pesticides formulated on a neem-basis are offered meanwhile in many markets. During the
last 5 years a range of small and middle-sized producers has started production and marketing
in industrialized, after having taken the often time consuming required registration
procedures. In USA we have observed an concentration process aiming to offer alternative
pest control packages including neem as a fungicide, out from one hand.
However also in developing countries a range of entrepreneurs started manufacturing neem
based pesticides. Currently in India 10 production units of reliable quality products are set up.
From a technical point of view, they no longer pose any serious production problems.
Neem's economic efficiency as a pesticide is predominantly determined by the price of the
seeds. In countries where neem is endemic, the prices range from between US$ 0.05 to
1.60 per kg of dried seed. In most countries, the cost of seeds needed to treat a hectare of
field crops once are between US$ 5.00 to US$ 20.00. When assessing the economic efficiency
of neem, care should be taken not to overlook the fact that other by-products can be
obtained and marketed, thus considerably enhancing neem's overall profitability.
Neem is used successfully as a pesticide in a wide range of crops and against numerous
pests but most of all in vegetables, ornamentals and fruits.
4