ABSTRACT
There are currently more than 1.26 billion people in the People’s Republic of China and providing an adequate food supply for such a large population is one of the nation’s biggest problems. To meet the challenges of a rapidly increasing population and a noticeable shortage of major natural resources for agriculture, China has had to develop more sustainable and productive agricultural systems (Wen et al., 1992). The food supply problem may be solved by controlling population growth, increasing agricultural production through enhanced use of hybrid seeds and fossil-energy-derived inputs such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, or through some combination of the two. Given the current agricultural cultivation practices in China, the most effective method for increasing the grain crop yield is to use pesticides for crop protection. China has 100 M ha of cultivated land and 140 M ha of sown land. There are more than 1,350 kinds of pests – these include > 770 insect species, > 550 diseases, > 80 weed species, and > 20 rodent species – that may harm crops. With this in mind, it is not surprising that using pesticide for pest control is the most popular method for limiting pest damage to crops.
