CABI News

Watch the video from the IPM Coalition explaining more about the Pesticides and Alternatives app.

15 May 2019 – CABI has provided its expertise in crop pest and disease management as part of a new multi-lingual tool to help farmers in Mexico, India, Brazil, Colombia and Kenya reduce their reliance on more harmful and less environmentally-friendly pesticides.

The new app, called Pesticides and Alternatives, has been created as part of a collaboration with the ISEAL Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Coalition to find better, less chemical-dependent, ways for farmers to manage agricultural pests and diseases that account for around 40% of lost crops worldwide.

CABI has contributed by providing data which allows the user to search for non-chemical pest control alternatives for 2,700 pests and diseases as well as the pesticide restrictions of nine standard systems.

The app, which was also made possible thanks to the ISEAL Innovations Fund, the scientific support of Oregon State University’s Integrated Plant Protection Center, and the collaboration of the IPM Coalition members, provides restriction status details for major standard systems/labels for more than 700 pesticide active ingredients.

Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese, Pesticides and Alternatives combines technology and scientific knowledge to create an effective and easy-to-use tool for decision makers of farms, fields and forest plantations in terms of pest management and pesticide use.

Cambria Finegold, CABI’s Global Director, Digital Development, said, “This project is another example of how CABI is working collaboratively to harness cutting-edge data to help reduce the reliance on more harmful chemical pesticides to control crop pests and diseases.

“This is particularly important when you consider that around two million tonnes of pesticides are consumed each year and where some 25 million agricultural workers are poisoned unintentionally by the chemicals they use.”

CABI joined forces with the IPM Coalition in February 2018 with the ultimate aim of reducing or eliminating the use of Highly Hazardous Pesticides and to achieve a significant reduction of pesticide risks to health and the environment with effective standard and certification system’s tools.

Other members of the coalition include the Better Cotton Initiative, Bonsucro, Fairtrade, Forest Stewardship Council, GEO Foundation, Global Coffee Platform, Rainforest Alliance, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, and the Sustainable Agriculture Network.

Additional information

This project was possible thanks to a grantfrom the ISEAL Innovations Fund, which is supported by Swiss Confederation.

Download the ‘Pesticides and Alternatives’ app from the GooglePlay or itunes Store.

See the news story ‘CABI partners with ISEAL IPM Coalition to support farmers with pest and disease management.’

For all our latest news