Plant Protection Industry and Market
I. Basic Situation of the Industry
Industry Regulatory System
The industry is subject to macro-management by government departments and self-discipline management by industry associations.
- Ministry of Agriculture | Responsible for the prevention and control of major crop pests and diseases. Carry out supervision and management of the quality and use of agricultural inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers in accordance with the law. Formulate and implement agricultural ecological construction plans, etc.
- Ministry of Industry and Information Technology | Responsible for the approval of pesticide production enterprises and the approval of production approval certificates, etc.
- National Agro-Tech Extension and Service Center | Responsible for the management and construction of the national agricultural technology extension service system, responsible for organizing and implementing the monitoring and control of major pests and diseases; responsible for the experiment, demonstration and promotion of agricultural materials such as pesticides and fertilizers, as well as new varieties and new products, etc.
- Plant Protection Station | Responsible for the monitoring of crop pests, diseases, weeds and rodents, ensuring timely reporting; responsible for carrying out experiments and promoting new plant protection technologies, responsible for the pilot work of plant protection industrialization, guiding large-scale pest, disease and weed control work, etc.
- China Society of Plant Protection | Established in July 1962, it is a national, academic, and non-profit social organization, a bridge connecting the government with plant protection science and technology workers, and an important social force for the development of national plant protection science and technology.
Major Industrial Policies of the Industry
1. “Guidance Catalogue for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2011 Version) (Revised in 2013)”
In this guidance catalogue, “development and application of agricultural biotechnology”, “development and application of digital (information) agricultural technology”, “development and application of automatic monitoring technology for crop and forest pest density”, and “development and production of new biopesticide products and new technologies” are all listed in the encouraged category of industrial structure adjustment.
2. “No. 1 Central Document”
Regarding strengthening rural modernization, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have continuously focused on “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” through this document. The 2016 “No. 1 Document” proposed to increase efforts to prevent and control agricultural non-point source pollution, implement zero growth actions for chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and implement regional demonstration projects for the resource utilization and harmless treatment of planting and breeding wastes. Actively promote high-efficiency ecological circular agriculture models. Implement food safety strategies to promote high-efficiency, low-toxicity and low-residue pesticides, and implement veterinary antimicrobial governance actions.
3. “Action Plan for Zero Growth in Pesticide Use by 2020”
The plan clarified that by building a batch of automated and intelligent field monitoring points, improving the pest and disease monitoring system, and improving the timeliness and accuracy of monitoring and early warning; applying green prevention and control technologies such as agricultural control, biological control, and physical control; promoting and applying biopesticides, high-efficiency, low-toxicity and low-residue pesticides, and replacing highly toxic and high-residue pesticides and other measures to ensure zero growth in total pesticide use by 2020.
4. “Opinions of the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture on Promoting Green Prevention and Control of Crop Pests and Diseases” [Nong Ban Fa (2011) No. 54]
The opinions clarified the great significance of promoting green prevention and control of crop pests and diseases for ensuring agricultural production safety and agricultural product quality and safety, clarified the guiding ideology, main principles, goals and tasks of promoting green prevention and control of crop pests and diseases, clarified the main technologies for green prevention and control of crop pests and diseases, and pointed out measures to vigorously promote green prevention and control of crop pests and diseases.
5. “Guiding Opinions on Structural Adjustment of Pesticide and Chemical Industry”
The opinions determined the structural adjustment tasks defined by the pesticide industry, specifically to continue to adjust the proportion of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides, and accelerate the elimination of highly toxic and high-risk pesticide varieties; accelerate the creation, development and promotion of high-efficiency, safe and environmentally friendly pesticide products; promote the integrated development model of upstream and downstream, and guide enterprises to enter chemical industry parks for development.
Overview of Green Plant Protection
1. Meaning of Green Plant Protection
In March 2006, the Ministry of Agriculture first proposed the new concept of “public plant protection, green plant protection” at the National Plant Protection and Quarantine Work Conference. Among them, “green plant protection” is defined as: regarding plant protection work as an important part of the harmonious system between man and nature, highlighting its guarantee and supporting role for high-yield, high-quality, high-efficiency, ecological and safe agriculture. The core of this definition is to emphasize that plant protection measures should be harmonious and friendly with nature.
2. Significance of Promoting Green Prevention and Control
Green prevention and control refers to plant protection measures that adopt environmentally friendly measures such as ecological regulation, biological control, physical control and scientific medication to control the harm of crop pests and diseases.
Green prevention and control is an important means to continuously control pest and disease disasters and ensure agricultural production safety. At present, the control of crop pests and diseases in my country mainly relies on chemical control measures. While controlling the losses of pest and disease hazards, it has also brought problems such as increased resistance of pests and diseases and increased probability of pest and disease outbreaks. By promoting and applying green prevention and control technologies such as ecological regulation, biological control, physical control, and scientific medication, it not only helps to protect biodiversity, reduce the probability of pest and disease outbreaks, and achieve sustainable control of pests and diseases, but also helps to reduce the losses of pest and disease hazards and ensure grain harvest and the effective supply of major agricultural products.
Green prevention and control is an inevitable requirement for promoting standardized production and improving the quality and safety level of agricultural products. Traditional crop pest and disease control measures neither meet the development requirements of modern agriculture nor meet the needs of standardized agricultural production. Large-scale promotion of green prevention and control technologies for crop pests and diseases can effectively solve the pest and disease control problems in the process of standardized crop production, significantly reduce the use of chemical pesticides, avoid excessive pesticide residues in agricultural products, improve the quality and safety level of agricultural products, increase market competitiveness, and promote farmers’ production and income increase.
Green prevention and control is an effective way to reduce pesticide use risks and protect the ecological environment. Green prevention and control technologies for pests and diseases belong to resource-saving and environment-friendly technologies. Promoting and applying green prevention and control technologies such as biological control and physical control can not only effectively replace the use of highly toxic and high-residue pesticides, but also reduce the risks of pest and disease prevention and control operations during the production process, and avoid human and livestock poisoning accidents. At the same time, it significantly reduces non-point source pollution caused by pesticides and their wastes, which helps to protect the agricultural ecological environment.
Market Size of Green Plant Protection
1. Green prevention and control market is growing steadily, and the future space is huge
China is a large agricultural country. In 2013, the sowing areas of my country’s main grains, rice, wheat, and corn, were 30,312 thousand hectares, 24,117 thousand hectares, and 36,318 thousand hectares respectively, and the sowing areas of main cash crops cotton, tobacco, and vegetables were 4,346 thousand hectares, 1,623 thousand hectares, and 20,899 thousand hectares respectively. Crop pest and disease hazards are serious, and pests and diseases of cash crops and horticultural crops occur frequently, and the control tasks and difficulty increase. In the face of relatively serious pests and diseases, plant protection departments at all levels have strengthened pest and disease monitoring and control. At the same time, due to recent agricultural product quality and safety events such as “poisonous leeks”, “poisonous cowpeas”, and “poisonous ginger” as well as food safety problems and environmental problems, more and more attention and concern are paid to the safe use of pesticides.
My country’s perennial crop pest and disease control area is 621 billion hectares times, and the control is mainly based on chemical pesticides. Pests such as diamondback moth, cotton bollworm, spodoptera litura, beet armyworm and cabbage armyworm have developed resistance to chemical pesticides, making pesticide use increase exponentially while the control effect is not ideal. Due to the uncontrolled use of chemical pesticides, pesticide residues in agricultural products exceed the standard, seriously affecting people’s health, and the quality and safety of agricultural products cannot be guaranteed. The status and role of biopesticides in integrated pest and disease control are becoming more and more important.
In 2014, the national green prevention and control area was about 920 million mu, biopesticides accounted for 88% of the green prevention and control market, and measures such as artificial release of natural enemies and insect pheromone trapping and killing accounted for 12%. In the composition of biopesticide species, insecticides account for about 1/3, and fungicides account for about 2/3. Based on the biological control cost of 40 yuan per mu per time, and control 3 times a year, the green prevention and control market size is 110.4 billion yuan.
2. Strong demand in organic agriculture market
As of June 2015, there were 13,113 organic product certificates announced by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China, an increase of more than 30% compared with less than 10,000 in the same period of 2014. According to statistics released by the “International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements” (IFOAM), China’s certified organic land area reaches 2 million hectares, or 30 million mu, but this is less than 1% of my country’s arable land area, while the average proportion in Europe is 3%, and countries such as Switzerland with developed organic industries even exceed 8%. Among the 30 million mu of certified organic land area, after deducting wild collection and pasture parts, about 30% are organic planting bases, which reaches 9 million mu. According to the plant protection investment of 1000 yuan/mu/year, its market space reaches 9 billion yuan.
According to the “Global Biologics Market Research Report” released by MicroMarketMonitor, global chemical pesticide use is declining at a rate of about 2% per year, while biopesticide use is increasing at a rate of 10% to 20% per year. Governments and consumers are paying more and more attention to food safety, making growers look for new environmentally friendly solutions to replace or supplement chemical products. The growth rate of China’s biopesticide market will be significantly higher than the global average.
Favorable and Unfavorable Factors Affecting the Development of Green Plant Protection Industry
1. Favorable Factors
1) Policy guidance is obvious, and the industry is accelerating benign development.
“Bio-industry, biopesticides” are high and new technologies supported by national policies. The state vigorously promotes “public plant protection, green plant protection”. Green plant protection and ecological agriculture are the mainstream directions of future policy support.
My country has issued a series of policies related to the plant protection industry in recent years, all of which have transmitted common policy signals, such as: encouraging the development of high-efficiency, safe, economical, and environmentally friendly pesticide products; strengthening industry access management, supporting the development of superior enterprises, and improving industry concentration; supporting technological innovation, etc. These policies will promote the benign development of the industry and promote the rapid development and growth of enterprises.
2) Market demand is stable, and the industry development space is huge.
There are many factors supporting the development of my country’s green plant protection industry, and market demand shows a stable growth trend, providing favorable conditions for the development of the industry. Compared with the green plant protection market in developed countries and regions, my country’s green plant protection industry still has huge market space. In the long run, the following factors will form important support for the continuous growth of my country’s green plant protection market demand:
The implementation of my country’s policies to strengthen agriculture and benefit farmers. The Central “No. 1 Document” has focused on “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” for 13 consecutive years. The 2016 “No. 1 Document” proposed to “improve the mechanism for the continuous growth of agricultural and rural investment. Prioritize ensuring fiscal investment in agriculture and rural areas. Give full play to the guiding function of fiscal policy and the leveraging role of fiscal funds, and encourage and guide financial capital and industrial and commercial capital to invest more in agriculture and rural areas. Increase the support of special construction funds for key projects and engineering in the fields of ‘agriculture, rural areas and farmers’ such as poverty alleviation, water conservancy, rural industry integration, and agricultural product wholesale markets. Play a leading role in planning, improve fund use and project management methods, deeply promote the integration and coordination of agriculture-related funds at multiple levels, implement provincial-level agriculture-related fund management reform and city and county agriculture-related fund integration pilots, and improve fund use performance assessment methods. Merge direct subsidies for grain farmers, good seed subsidies, and comprehensive subsidies for agricultural materials into agricultural support and protection subsidies, focusing on supporting the protection of cultivated land fertility and the improvement of grain production capacity. Improve the agricultural machinery purchase subsidy policy.”
Consumption upgrade of agricultural products. An important trend in agricultural development is to pay more attention to the quality and safety of agricultural products and food. Green food and organic food meet people’s consumption demand for natural and healthy food, conform to the general consumption trend, conform to the requirements of environmental protection and sustainable development, and are also the focus of competition in the vegetable and fruit product market. Green plant protection solves the pollution problem of vegetables and fruits from the source, and is a new stage and inevitable trend of control technology development. Compared with traditional control technology, it emphasizes coordination with nature and not forming pollution sources to ensure consumers’ health and improve quality of life. The production and consumption of green and organic agricultural products have aroused widespread concern in the whole society, and the adjustment of agricultural product consumption structure has become one of the most important driving factors for the demand for pest green control products.
The withdrawal of highly toxic chemical pesticides will vacate huge market space. Since January 1, 2007, my country has completely banned the use of 5 highly toxic pesticides including methamidophos, parathion, methyl parathion, monocrotophos, and ammonium phosphate in pesticide production. Since June 15, 2011, it has stopped accepting new field trial applications, registration applications, and production license applications for another 22 highly toxic pesticides. The withdrawal of highly toxic pesticides directly forms a huge alternative market space.
2. Unfavorable Factors
1) There are still many deficiencies in my country’s green plant protection system and model.
In the green plant protection system, my country has the problem of disconnection between scientific research and production practice. The main reasons are as follows: First, the separation of science and technology management, production, education, and research, making problems in production practice unable to be studied in time and form targeted results; second, the lack of market orientation in agricultural scientific research projects; third, the narrow representation of consulting experts and insufficient social participation in plant protection research projects; fourth, insufficient participation of leading agricultural enterprises in green plant protection scientific research.
In response to the above problems, my country needs to gradually improve the model of the green plant protection system, achieve the integration of scientific research, education, and promotion, and achieve government attention, legislation first, sufficient investment, sound institutions, technical support, and facility guarantee.
2) The promotion of green plant protection products faces difficulties.
Economically, the cost of using green plant protection products to control pests and diseases is relatively high, and its cost is generally 2-4 times that of ordinary chemical pesticides. In terms of effect, the control effect of green plant protection products on pests is slow to respond, and the product quality guarantee period is short. Technically, the use of green plant protection products requires matching technical training, and there are higher requirements for the timing, method, and dosage of use, and it cannot be universally accepted by users at the application level.
II. Industry Risk Characteristics
There is a competitive relationship between green plant protection industry and chemical agriculture industry
Green plant protection products have the advantages of high efficiency, safety, and no drug resistance, and have been widely used in the fields of pest and disease control in traditional agriculture, green pollution-free agriculture and organic agriculture. Green plant protection products and chemical pesticides have a complementary and differentiated competitive relationship. Each has advantages in different control fields. Green plant protection products have absolute advantages in the fields of pest and disease control in organic agriculture and green agriculture; in the field of pollution-free agriculture, there is a strong competitive relationship between green plant protection products and low-toxicity chemical pesticides; in the field of ordinary agriculture, chemical pesticides have obvious advantages.
Rampant fake and inferior products of biopesticides
In the second half of 2015, agricultural departments in 21 provinces (districts and cities) including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan, Hunan, Guangxi, Hainan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang organized pesticide market supervision spot checks, focusing on checking pesticide products used in vegetables, fruit trees, tea trees, rice, wheat, corn, cotton, soybeans and other crops. 52 biopesticides were spot-checked, and 2 were qualified, with a qualification rate of 3.8%. Chemical pesticides such as carbofuran, chlorantraniliprole, and lambda-cyhalothrin were illegally added to biopesticides.
The degree of industrialization of the industry is not high
My country’s green plant protection industry is still in the early stage of development. The scale of enterprises in the industry is small, and the industrialization capacity is still insufficient. Enterprises need to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in product development, and it is time-consuming and laborious in technology promotion. Enterprises need strong financial strength as backing in their development so that potential products can effectively achieve industrialization, truly realize green prevention and control of crop pests and diseases, improve crop quality, increase planting benefits and protect the environment.
Published at: Jun 21, 2016 · Modified at: Dec 12, 2025
