INDIA's first home-made, environment-friendly biopesticide promises a bountiful harvest for both manufacturers and
farmers. The biopesticides, Trichoderma harzianum and Gliocladiuni
virens, have been prepared from soil-based micro-organisms and fungi,
through university-industry collaboration, said A N Mukhopadhvay, dean,
G B Pant University of Agriculture and
Technology, Pantnagar, UP, during a
presentation at the 83rd Indian Science
Congress in Patiala recently. These
biopesticides will soon hit the market
and are likely to cost less in India
compared to the developed countries.
Biopesticides use living agents to
control pathogens or disease-causing
organisms in plants. These biocontrol
organisms act by reducing the number
of pathogens, preventing the pathogen
from causing infection and by checking
the progress of the disease. Biopesticides
are likely to have 10- 15 per cent share in
the pesticide market by the year 2000.
Increasing concerns about health
hazards posed by chemical pesticides
will contribute to the growth of biopesticide market. About one million people
are affected by chemical pesticides
every year and nearly 20,000 of them
die, according to World Health
Organization estimates.
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