Bio-Pesticides: Natural Strategies for Agricultural Sustainability in the Developing Countries

Abstract

The basic goal of sustainable development was to create a nexus between socially acceptable economic growth and environmental management. Within this framework, agriculture would be created to achieve profitability, community well-being, and environmental safety. Agricultural sustainability is targeted at increasing the yield of food and fiber crops thereby reducing the incidence of pests and diseases to such a degree that they do not cause extensive damage to crops and environments. Overdependence on chemical pesticides for food production has caused serious health and environmental problems and these propelled researchers to look for better alternatives to synthetic pesticides. Bio-pesticides are materials with pesticidal properties that originate from natural living organisms, including microorganisms, plants, and animals. Bio-pesticides can make important contribution to sustainable agriculture and help to reduce over reliance on chemical pesticides that impose environmental pollution and health hazard at the detriment of mankind. To highlight the needs of bio-pesticides for the interest of man and his environment, this paper used analytical approach to review the followings: Bio-pesticide as a concept, potentials of bio-pesticides, categories of bio-pesticides, and agricultural sustainability as regard to bio-pesticides application.