These Guidelines summarise the work of the ‘ASEAN Regional BCA Expert Groups on Regulation and Application’, which was supported by the project ‘ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems (ASEAN Biocontrol)’ funded by the Federal Republic of Germany. It has two primary goals: • To form a framework for the better implementation of biological control agents (BCA); • To provide a template for harmonisation of regulations and thus stimulate regional trade in 3 Summary BCA. Experts from the ASEAN Member States (AMS) met several times in 2013 to present their experiences with regard to the regulation of BCA and biocontrol methods against major pests in certain key crops (in particular: rice, vegetables and fruits). These national understandings were compared with proposed international regulation and scientific data. The Guidelines therefore constitute a harmonised opinion of ASEAN Experts. BCA are most applicable in the context of appropriate Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies that emphasise preventative pest management: with regular observation of the crop and timely, targeted intervention only where required. It follows that a range of BCA must be made readily available to farmers as required; this is most likely to come about by providing an appropriate regulatory environment and technical support to the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) that have a reputation for providing these products. For practical purposes, BCA have been grouped into four product categories: • Microbial control agents (microbials or MCA), • Macro-organisms (macrobials), • Semiochemicals (mostly pheromones, kairomones, etc.), • Natural products (plant extracts or ‘botanicals’, fermentation and other products) Of these, microbials and many ‘natural products’ are often termed as ‘biopesticides’; however, a number of fermentation products have been covered by chemical pesticide legislation and are not included in this edition of the Guidelines. Microbials may have special application needs and, as with other BCA, include a range of organisms with varying properties and requirements for manufacture, specification and regulation. With macro-organisms, a distinction is drawn between introduced predators and parasitoids (often for ‘classical’ biological control) and indigenous species. Semiochemicals are characterised by extremely low application dosage and risk of toxicity; they may be used in conjunction with conventional insecticides in traps, thus limiting their environmental impact. Regulation of botanicals poses certain difficulties, because they commonly consist of complex mixtures of active substances, where separate toxicities cannot be determined. Biological control is not universally appropriate for all pest management situations and there remains an evident and continuing role for chemical pesticides: nevertheless with an increasing proportion of natural products and their analogues. There are a number of systems that use biocontrol as a principal component of pest management strategy, including the critically important
Implementing Biological Control Agents in the ASEAN Region
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