affected by the question of the status of successful existing products that have all
characteristics that are acceptable. The obvious answer is that if the national and
friendly goals and motives of some of these producers were not valid, companies
producing MCAs would have been shut down soon after their establishment.
Currently, unlike parasitoids and predators, the country’s ability to produce
MCAs is well known (Fig. 17.6) and can be used to reduce dependence on chemical
pesticide importation. For example, about 30,000 tonnes of chemical pesticides are
currently imported into the country from official sources; about 20,000 tonnes of
these are insecticides. Of this amount, a significant percentage is related to the
pesticides used against lepidopterans pest that can be replaced or combined with
or alternated in field and greenhouse applications with a Bt-based microbial insecticide. This requires a firm and decisive decision by the relevant authorities in the
Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. It seems
that only by activating this potential, the percentage of chemical pesticide imports
could fall below the current level.
17.3 Government Support of BC
Currently, agricultural pesticides are inexpensive, but their final cost is several folds
more than the BC cost when taking into account the comprehensive and environmental costs. Accordingly, developed countries usually apply a combined plan with
a combination of BCAs and other tactics to lead the community to higher use of BC
via accompanying additional costs to the market price of chemical pesticides through
taxation and the creation of real prices, and subsidizing BC plans. For support
payments, it should cover the crop, not alone the agent.
Since a restricted number of BCAs registered for users recorded in previous years,
various products are not available for recommendation to users. Of course, with the
establishment of the Expert Committee for Supervision and Registration of Biological Control and Review of Registration Requests, more BCAs are in the queue of
being registered, however, there are still problems. Regarding the registration of
BCAs according to Soroush et al. (2011), it is necessary to carefully study the
technical information of the products and perform QC analyzes in well-equipped
laboratories. For example, each isolate of a microbial agent has a completely
separate and unique characteristic and full characterization of each microbial strain
required a wide range of data which can only be obtained in a well equipped
laboratory and at relatively high costs. Regarding the approved criteria as standard
levels asked from registrants, it is difficult for companies, especially domestic producers, to provide technical characterization and QC analysis. Most companies that
produce BCAs and even import their products are suffering from insufficient
financial resources to afford the high costs of performing QC tests and studying
the efficiency regarding the existing tariffs that have increased recently as well.
Therefore, a solution should be thought to facilitate the registration of MCAs, due to
their significant potential role. Considering the high cost of studying the efficiency of
614
J. Karimi et al.
characteristics that are acceptable. The obvious answer is that if the national and
friendly goals and motives of some of these producers were not valid, companies
producing MCAs would have been shut down soon after their establishment.
Currently, unlike parasitoids and predators, the country’s ability to produce
MCAs is well known (Fig. 17.6) and can be used to reduce dependence on chemical
pesticide importation. For example, about 30,000 tonnes of chemical pesticides are
currently imported into the country from official sources; about 20,000 tonnes of
these are insecticides. Of this amount, a significant percentage is related to the
pesticides used against lepidopterans pest that can be replaced or combined with
or alternated in field and greenhouse applications with a Bt-based microbial insecticide. This requires a firm and decisive decision by the relevant authorities in the
Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. It seems
that only by activating this potential, the percentage of chemical pesticide imports
could fall below the current level.
17.3 Government Support of BC
Currently, agricultural pesticides are inexpensive, but their final cost is several folds
more than the BC cost when taking into account the comprehensive and environmental costs. Accordingly, developed countries usually apply a combined plan with
a combination of BCAs and other tactics to lead the community to higher use of BC
via accompanying additional costs to the market price of chemical pesticides through
taxation and the creation of real prices, and subsidizing BC plans. For support
payments, it should cover the crop, not alone the agent.
Since a restricted number of BCAs registered for users recorded in previous years,
various products are not available for recommendation to users. Of course, with the
establishment of the Expert Committee for Supervision and Registration of Biological Control and Review of Registration Requests, more BCAs are in the queue of
being registered, however, there are still problems. Regarding the registration of
BCAs according to Soroush et al. (2011), it is necessary to carefully study the
technical information of the products and perform QC analyzes in well-equipped
laboratories. For example, each isolate of a microbial agent has a completely
separate and unique characteristic and full characterization of each microbial strain
required a wide range of data which can only be obtained in a well equipped
laboratory and at relatively high costs. Regarding the approved criteria as standard
levels asked from registrants, it is difficult for companies, especially domestic producers, to provide technical characterization and QC analysis. Most companies that
produce BCAs and even import their products are suffering from insufficient
financial resources to afford the high costs of performing QC tests and studying
the efficiency regarding the existing tariffs that have increased recently as well.
Therefore, a solution should be thought to facilitate the registration of MCAs, due to
their significant potential role. Considering the high cost of studying the efficiency of
614
J. Karimi et al.