Larive International, Sannam S4, Koppert, FoodTechHolland and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands hosted a workshop about beneficial insects and bees on 24th August 2016 in New Delhi. The aim of the workshop was to create awareness and address, discuss and give solutions related to the concerns which live insects and natural pollination present with respect to productivity in the Indian horticultural sector culture.

Integrated Pest Management

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which uses all the available tools of Pest and Disease Management in a judicious manner is the key to the sound health of a country’s soil, water, air and in general, human well-being. IPM has been a top priority scheme in the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. Among the different tools of IPM, Biological control is the single most important tool next only to the widely used option of chemical pesticides. Biological control uses microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, virus, etc.,) and macro-organisms (insects, mites, nematodes etc.) for management of various pests and diseases affecting crops.

Bumblebees

Koppert is the market leader in biological crop protection and natural pollination using bumblebees and has the largest bumblebee productions worldwide (Slovakia, USA, Mexico and Turkey) and sells in over 35 countries.

So far Koppert’s policy has been to focus on licensing of beneficials in India, since bumblebees cannot be used without beneficials. Thus a dossier for bumblebees has not yet been submitted for approval to Indian authorities. However, especially in high value greenhouse crops there is a need for good pollinators, and if IPM starts to be implemented the possibilities for the use of bumblebees will increase as well.

For more information, please contact Linda Romijn.