What are agrobiologicals and why are they important?

Conventional agroproducts, such as chemical pesticides and fertilisers, have been widely used in agriculture to improve crop yields or protect plants from different stress conditions. While they are easy to apply and effective, the use and overuse of chemical products can pose risks and threats to human health, biodiversity and the environment.

Various global policies urge reducing the use and risks of chemical pesticides, especially those with hazardous substances. For instance, major environmental frameworks, like the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework from the Convention on Biological Diversity, Rotterdam Convention and Stockholm Convention, recommend measures to protect human health and the environment from the impacts of harmful pesticides.

As a promising alternative to reduce the need and use of chemical pesticides, the use of agricultural biologicals has recently gained more attention. Agricultural biologicals are nature-based solutions used in farming systems as:

They can be living organisms or derive from naturally occurring organisms, plant extracts or other organic matter. Their implementation should be safe and support a sustainable transformation of agriculture. They boost crop yield, improve plant health and manage crop pests and pathogens. If correctly introduced, they can increase agricultural resilience by providing a more sustainable and safe agriculture.

In SSA, the use of agricultural biologicals is reduced due to issues with effectiveness, availability, and affordability. As a result, smallholder farmers have limited exposure to biologicals. When used correctly, biologicals are eco-friendly, target specific, and have the potential to create new business opportunities towards circular bioeconomy. Thus, they can both increase food security and decrease poverty. Their introduction in SSA would potentially contribute to reduce the use and risks from chemicals pesticides, especially hazardous chemical pesticides and align with global efforts on reduction of agrochemicals. Importantly, for smallholder farmers in SSA, agribiologicals need to be introduced in a manner that does not threaten their food security and livelihoods.

Table: Biologicals can help agriculture reach sustainable outcomes:

• Global drivers of biologicals use • Growing consumer demand for organically grown food; • Environmental protection concerns and drive for bio-circularity and nature-based solutions for agriculture; • Recent policy developments, e.g. the EU’s Green Deal and biodiversity strategy for 2030; East African Bioeconomy strategy, and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023-2027; • Sustainable agripreneurship

• Constraints to biologicals use • Poor or missing regulatory frameworks, including misunderstandings around terminology between stakeholders and a lack of discussion forums; • High prices, underdeveloped supply chains, unavailability in markets; • Low lab-to-field transfer, with insufficient field testing of suitable biologicals; • Lack of awareness and knowledge amongst farmers on biologicals use, including lack of support services; and • Poor adaptation