Chapter 15 - Biopesticides in South America: Regulation and commercialization

Abstract

South America experienced a rapid increase in biopesticide products in recent years. Such growth was made possible by a series of innovative paths for registering new products in several countries, including national programs to encourage this pest management approach in some countries. In this chapter, we will present the regulatory environment for biopesticide product regulation and commercialization in South American countries and discuss how prolific this market is in the region by giving examples of commercially available relevant products. The focus is on the convergence among countries and presents the most innovative registration routes for selected countries. Many countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile made several exemptions to the regulation of biopesticides that made the registration process more straightforward, accessible, cheaper, and prioritized to the detriment of synthetic pesticides. As a result, the use and commercialization of biopesticides in South America have expanded consistently as the main alternative to synthetic pesticides. Such expansion attracted several small and large local and international companies producing biopesticides and biological control practitioners. At the same time, organic agriculture also expanded in South America opening new opportunities for commercialization and paths for regulating biopesticides. Although most of the innovations in the regulatory environment were done in the past 10 years, an ever-growing number of products are being made commercially available for farmers each year. Therefore, we can assume that South America is attractive to new advances in the commercialization and use of biopesticides.