Nano-pesticides become the development direction of future pesticides

China uses 22% of the world's arable land to feed 22% of the world's population. The role of pesticides in preventing major biological disasters and ensuring food security in China is undoubtedly indispensable. The current chemical prevention and control is still an irreplaceable technological means to prevent major biological disasters. How to effectively control pesticide residue pollution has always been a major problem that has plagued China's agricultural production and food safety.

Nano-pesticides can significantly improve the biological activity, utilization rate and effective period of the active ingredients of pesticides, reduce the amount of pesticides applied and the number of applications, reduce the loss of pesticides and accelerate the degradation of residues. The first "973" project in the field of nano-agriculture in China, and the use of nano-materials and technology to improve the effectiveness and safety of pesticides, led by the Institute of Agro-Environment and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (EIA) "Basic research", an innovative combination of nanotechnology and pesticides, is an active exploration and pioneering attempt to alleviate the residual pollution of traditional chemical pesticides.

The disadvantages of traditional pesticides

China's agricultural biological disasters occur very frequently. There are more than 100 major pests and diseases occurring throughout the year. Chemical control is a necessary means to ensure the safe and stable production of food and agricultural products. At present, China is the world's largest pesticide production and use country, with an annual chemical control area of ​​7 billion mu and pesticide use of more than 2 million tons.

However, at present, the proportion of high-efficiency and environmentally-friendly pesticide preparations produced and used in China is not high, and the varieties are still based on traditional formulations such as emulsifiable concentrates and wettable powders. There are many limitations in the use of organic solvents, dust drift, and poor dispersion, and the effective utilization rate is widespread. Low.

The long-term large-scale and inefficient use of pesticides has led to serious over-standard pesticide residues in food, vegetables, fruits, and soil and water in many areas of China. This not only poses serious problems to biological and human health, but also leads to the structure of the ecosystem. And the destruction of the function.

Therefore, the use of modern cutting-edge scientific and technological means, the development of advanced pesticide formulations processing technology, improve the effective utilization of pesticides, reduce its in the non-target area and the amount of the environment and the residual pollution, to ease China's current pesticide residues and environmental pollution, protection National food, food and ecological security, and the promotion of the sustainable development of the pesticide industry are of great significance.

Nano-pesticides attract international attention

At present, the use of nanomaterials and technology to develop new formulations of nano-pesticides has become one of the research hotspots in the field of international nano-agriculture, and it has also shown good application prospects in terms of relieving food residues and environmental pollution caused by pesticide abuse. The so-called "nano-pesticides" are nano-materials and preparation techniques that are used to effectively and efficiently combine the original drug, carrier, and adjuvant with pesticide formulations.

In the past decade, the United States, Europe, Brazil, India, Japan, Canada and other countries have all started related research work. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Parliament have issued regulations governing the production and use of nano-pesticides. The United States Syngenta has begun to introduce new nano-pesticide pesticide products to the market.

China's nano-pesticide research started relatively late. In view of the severe situation of pesticide food residues and environmental pollution in China, during the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, the “863” plan project deployed by China has already begun to support the research of agricultural nanomedicine and has made important progress. The launch of the "973" nano-pesticide project is conducive to the deepening of the research and development of the theory and technology of nano-pesticide preparation, and the acceleration of the efficient and safe creation and application of new green pesticide formulations.

Cultivating emerging cross disciplines

Dr. Cui Haixin, chief scientist of the Nano Pesticide Project and researcher at the Environmental Protection Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said, “Because the nanomaterials and preparation technology are not yet mature in the past few years, even if the new nanopesticides are successfully developed, they will not be promoted because of the high prices and other factors. With the rapid progress of nanomaterials preparation process and production equipment, nano-pesticides have ushered in a new stage of practical development.”

He said that the development of nano-pesticides is very promising through cross-disciplinary collaboration. During the five-year project period, Cui Haixin and the research team will study three types of pesticides: avermectin (pesticides), beta-cyfluthrin (biomimetic pesticides), and flubendiamide (chemical pesticides). For the monocotyledonous and dicotyledon model crops, the preparation of nano-pesticides theory and methods were systematically studied in order to achieve the purpose of spotting and revealing the commonalities.

"Pesticides are a wide variety of chemicals, so nano-pesticides need more experts to participate in the development, in order to fully spread from point to point, and can't fundamentally solve problems alone." said Cui Haixin.

However, it should be alarmed that nano-pesticides have not yet entered the commercialization stage in China, but some businesses have begun to use nano-technology as a selling point for propaganda. Cui Haixin hopes that relevant national departments can pay attention to this.