CABI News

The CABI BioProtection Portal has now been launched in Hungary, in addition to already helping farmers reduce reliance on chemical pesticides in many other countries.

CABI today made its ground-breaking online bioprotection resource available in Hungary, adding to the growing number of countries – across four continents – where it is already available. Accessible on multiple devices and in local languages, the CABI BioProtection Portal aims to promote awareness and uptake of more sustainable approaches to agriculture and horticulture worldwide by helping growers and agricultural advisors identify, source and correctly apply biocontrol and biopesticide products for their specific crop-pest problems.

It is increasingly clear that certain kinds of chemical pesticides in agriculture are creating serious human health and environmental effects. The portal, which provides users with up-to-date information on nationally registered and available bioprotection products, will be particularly beneficial for growers looking to replace chemical pesticides in order to meet market or export standards, satisfy consumer demands for healthier and safer food and reduce pressures on the environment.

Hungary has a strong and diverse agricultural sector that contributes significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (3.5% in 2019). In 2018, for example, 7.9 million tons of maize, 5.2 million tons of wheat, 1.8 million tons of sunflower seed and 1.1 million tons of barley was produced. Hungarian farmers are, like many across Europe, struggling with the ongoing phasing out of a number of synthetic pesticides and are, therefore, in need of alternatives which the CABI BioProtection Portal can provide.

Dr Ulrich Kuhlmann, Executive Director, Global Operations at CABI said: “Globally, an estimated 40 percent of crops are lost to pests and diseases. The widespread use of chemical pesticides to fight crop pests alone is not sustainable either economically or environmentally in the long run especially when you factor impacts exacerbated by climate change”.

“CABI is helping growers to adapt to this major challenge through projects that apply, among other things, our expertise in digital development and crop health as well as products like the CABI BioProtection Portal which promote sustainable approaches to pest management.”

“The CABI BioProtection Portal brings together in one place the various safer and more environmentally friendly biocontrol and biopesticide products that growers can add to their ‘arsenal’ against crop pests as part of an integrated pest management plan.”

Users of the CABI BioProtection Portal enter their country and crop-pest problem query in the system and generate key information on biocontrol and biopesticide products that are authorised by national regulators for that specific search. Information is sourced directly from national governments’ lists of registered pesticides and from partner biocontrol manufacturers.

Hungary is also strong in agricultural research. CABI has been collaborating with a number of universities, research institutes, plant health authorities and farmers on the biological control of invasive arthropods pests in Hungary. As part of this, since 2000, CABI has run a collaborative research laboratory at the plant protection directorate in Hodmezovasarhely in southern Hungary.

Dr Stefan Toepfer, biocontrol scientist at CABI and head of the Hungarian laboratory, said: “It is nice to see that Hungary has joined the CABI BioProtection Portal initiative. I believe, Hungary as a country with diverse agricultural production systems and diverse groups of farming enterprises has much to offer. I anticipate Hungarian agricultural extension services may use the portal as a major reference when it come to environmentally-friendly plant protection.”

The innovative tool has been made available by CABI in collaboration with its network of partner biocontrol manufacturers (Koppert Biological Systems, Syngenta, e-nema, Oro Agri, IdaiNature, Biobest, Applied Bio-nomics, Terralink Horticulture and Bioinsumos Nativa), sponsor (Nespresso) and donors (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, African Development Bank, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development and the UK Department for International Development) who provide invaluable support in the form of technical inputs, strategic guidance and funding.

Find out more information about the CABI BioProtection Portal at https://bioprotectionportal.com/

Notes to editors

Media enquiries
Wayne Coles, Communications Manager, CABI, Email: w.coles@cabi.org
Tel: +44 (0)7539 424817

About CABI
CABI is an international not-for-profit organization that improves people’s lives by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment. Through knowledge sharing and science, CABI helps address issues of global concern such as improving global food security and safeguarding the environment. We do this by helping farmers grow more and lose less of what they produce, combating threats to agriculture and the environment from pests and diseases, protecting biodiversity from invasive species, and improving access to agricultural and environmental scientific knowledge. Our 49 member countries guide and influence our core areas of work, which include development and research projects, scientific publishing and microbial services.