1. Project Summary and Relationship to China's Agenda 21

The primary goal of this project is to research, develop, and commercialise pollution-free biological products, introduce advanced production technologies and equipment, and establish mass production facilities and pollution-free production demonstration regions in order to promote the development of the pollution-free product business and sustainable agriculture in China.

This project is based on programme areas 9B, 11B, 11E and 11F of China's Agenda 21, and is related to programme areas 14C and 15A.

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2. Background

Agriculture is the basis of China's social development and is also the mainstay of China's rural economy. Pests and diseases are important constraints on agricultural production and thus a primary issue related to the development of sustainable agriculture in China in the twenty-first century.

About 200 million hectares of farmland are attacked by insect pests, diseases and weeds each year, the treatment for which requires the production and application of 250,000 tons of chemical pesticides. This results in a series of problems: increased residues on agricultural products, stronger pest resistance to chemical pesticides and more frequent accident, both of people and animals. According to surveys, chemical pesticide resistant-pest populations have increased from a few in the past to a few dozen at present. Among the main agricultural pests, cotton-bell borer, cotton aphid, diamond-back moth, beet-root night moth and the green-house white powder fly have developed a high level of resistance to chemical pesticides. All of this indicates that agricultural bio-control is becoming a more and more important issue.

To ensure the safety of agricultural products and production workers, the Ministry of Agriculture has established a "Green Food" ( internationally known as organic food) certifying agency, thus forming a complete quality-control system, which covers farmland to the dinner table. This system combines the pre-production management, mid-production management and post-production management. Because China is a major agricultural country, it is extremely important that the country protects its ecological environment, ensures human health, and promotes and develops sustainable agriculture.

Biological pesticides are made from living organisms or organic materials derived from living things, based primarily on agricultural by-products (plant protein and animal protein) and obtained through micro-fermentation. Biological pesticides are safe to non-target living things and are well known as pollution-free pesticides. Therefore, biological pesticides are more suitable than chemical pesticides for mass-production and application in the modern integrated management of agriculture. Global strategy is now focusing on protecting the ecological environment on which mankind depends, through sustainable agriculture.

Although China is a developing country, the Chinese government has started attaching great importance to pollution control, protection of the ecological balance and development of pollution-free production-technologies. It actively supports the research and development of biological pesticides and green food, and has included the related research into the National Ninth Five-Year Plan and the Long-term Targets for the Year 2010. This project is closely linked with sustainable agriculture, rural development and clean productions in the China's Agenda 21. Thus there is great market potential for the commercialisation of pollution-free biological pesticides.

In the past 10 years, the research and application of pollution-free biological pesticides has drawn widespread attention in China, with related research included in national research plans and a technical force formed for research, teaching and development of biological pesticides. In 1996, the State Planning Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture and Hubei province entered a joint investment to establish the Engineering and Technical Centre of Micro-Biological Pesticides in Hubei province with preparatory work under way. In the meantime, the Institute of Biological Control of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has been given responsibility to establish a key laboratory for Sustainable Management of Harmful Living Plants. It is hoped that the implementation of these projects will further increase the level of research ability and production technology of biological pesticides in China. It is also expected that the market share of biological pesticides in China will increase from the present 2% to 20% at the beginning of the next century.

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3. Objectives

3.1 Long-term Objective

To develop safe pollution-free biological pesticides and biological control technologies, reduce dependence of the agricultural production on chemical pesticides, promote the development of pollution-free agricultural production technologies which will help protect the environment and unify social production and environmental protection.

3.2 Immediate Objectives

• To select natural pollution-free biological pesticides (including those improved by genetic engineering technologies), improve production technologies and facilities, increase production capacities and product processing abilities and explore the markets.
• To study and establish a standardisation system for the quality of biological pesticides. Establish a personnel training and information service centre to raise the environmental awareness of the public and train technical personnel for the development and application of biological pesticides.
• To establish pollution-free agricultural demonstration regions, including grains, oil, vegetables, fruits, tea, etc., use biological pesticides and biological control techniques to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by over 50%, and formulate technical specifications for pollution-free biological control.

4. Output and Activities

4.1 Research and development of biological pesticides

• Introduce advanced production technologies and facilities and establish complete research and demonstration bases for biological pesticide field-trials. Rebuild and enlarge demonstration factories of biological pesticides and increase their annual output to 800 tons.
• Prepare for the establishment of a preservation centre for biological pesticide strains, effectively conduct the screening of strain resources, identifications and analysis. Collect 50-100 isolates and identify 5-10 new isolates annually.
• Establish a quality inspection system for biological pesticides and biological fungicides, introduce advanced testing techniques, interface and conform to international standards, and standardise the quality of biological pesticide products.

Monitoring Indicators: 50-100 isolates collected and 5-10 new isolates identified annually; a biological pesticide factory upgraded, with an annual capacity of 800 tons and an annual turnover of US$ 1 million.

Implementing Agencies: Ministry of Agriculture and the Agricultural Commission of Hubei province.

Time Schedule: January 1997 - December 2000.

4.2 Information exchange and technical training centre for biological pesticides

• Establish a biological pesticide technical training centre and train more than 50 technical personnel every year. The training will be given to those engaged in the research and development of biological pesticides and technical personnel involved in production and application extensions.
• Establish a biological pesticide information system and conduct domestic and international scientific and technical cooperation.
• Set up a network for biological field tests to speed up the feed-back of research information and shorten the research and development cycles.

Monitoring Indicators: Set up a technical training and information exchange system for biological pesticides

Implementing Agency: Ministry of Agriculture

Time Schedule: January 1997 - December 2000

4.3 Establish pollution-free agricultural production demonstration regions

• Establish 5 comprehensive demonstration regions of pollution-free agricultural production in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Shanxi, Fujian Provinces and the Yellow River watershed, Huai River and Hai River; increase the scope of new product tests and demonstrations, in order to decrease the use of chemical pesticides by over 50%.
• Research and formulate integrated management and technical regulations for biological control techniques which focus on the biological control of diseases, insect pests and weeds.
• Gradually extend the use of pollution-free control technologies for the control of diseases, pests and weeds to all the grain, cotton, fruit and vegetable growing bases across the country and increase the ratio of the biological pesticides in the integrated management.

Monitoring Indicators: Biological control demonstration regions of 10,000 hectares set up; chemical pesticide use reduced by over 50%.

Implementing Agency: Ministry of Agriculture

Time Schedule: January 1997 - December 2000

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5. Input

5.1 Chinese inputs

Chinese inputs will be used for project management, office facilities, domestic specialists, training, land and factory buildings, related research and technical personnel, data collection, construction, etc.

5.2 International inputs

International inputs will be used for construction of the experimental bases, major instruments and equipment for the research, key technology and production facilities, technical assistance etc.

5.3 Budget

The total capital needed for this project is US$ 6.8 million. The Chinese participants will raise US$ 3.4 million from domestic sources, while foreign aid and investment will cover the other US$ 3.4 million.

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Table 1. Budget by Item (in million US dollars)

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Table 2. Budget by Output (in million US dollars)

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6. Benefits

The implementation of this project will foster favourable conditions for the development of the biological pesticide market for China in the twenty-first century. When the project is completed, one or two new products will be introduced into the market every year and this will provide more options for the users, thus reducing dependence on chemical pesticides. When the new production technologies are put to use in the pollution-free experimental regions, peasant income is expected to increase by 20%. Investors are also expected to receive favourable returns.

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7. Risks

Since this project has been included into the National Five-Year Plan and the National Medium-and-Long-Term Development Program, the project implementation has been granted support in terms of manpower, resources, conditions and policies. Furthermore, market demand for the products looks promising. However, if the project budget can not be secured, the scheduled completion of the project will be adversely affected. In this case, the implementation of the project will require that funds be sought through loans, fund raising and donations. This will minimise the project scope and its technical requirements, and delay the schedule of the project.

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