The International Conference on BioProtection for Sustainable Agriculture (ICBPSA23) is set to take place in Can Tho in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam from 26-28 July 2023
It will bring together scientists and stakeholders involved in improving crop protection, and provide an opportunity to share experiences in the field of bioprotection with participants from different parts of the world. The conference will last three days, with participation being free of charge.
In most countries of the world, the usage of pesticides has been steadily increasing for more than 60 years, with negative consequences for the environment, biodiversity, human, animal and soil health. This consumption calls into question the socio-economic sustainability of farms and the ecological sustainability of agroecosystems. Agroecology is now presented as a realistic alternative to conventional agriculture based on the use of fossil inputs.
Agroecological crop protection (ACP) is the application of agroecological principles to crop protection. It is based on two founding principles of agroecology – enhancing biodiversity and strengthening soil health, as well as on the original principle of crop protection which emphasises preventive measures against crop pests.
Biological control (BC), which is characterised by the use of living organisms to reduce populations or damage of crop pests, is central to this agroecological approach, aiming to restore bioecological balances between plant and animal communities in cropping systems. In addition to biological control, solutions exist that use non-living, nature-based, substances. The combination of these two fields (living organisms and non-living, nature-based substances) is now considered under the umbrella of Bioprotection (BP). The different areas of bioprotection are the categories of biological control (conservation BC, classical BC, augmentative BC) against animal pests, plant pathogens, weeds, as well as the categories of non-living substances, such as semio-chemicals, plant extracts, biopesticides, etc.
This ICBPSA23 will be devoted to bioprotection, as a set of practices contributing to sustainable agriculture.
