Classical and augmentative biological control against ... - IOBC-WPRS

Blum et al.
indicate which of the 12 factors they considered as important in terms of their potential impact on
the evolution of future use of biological control agents. For those factors selected as important, the
respondents were asked to weigh the expected impact positively or negatively on a scale from 0 to
20.
The data were used to compute for each of the 12 factors:
a) an Influence Index, calculated as the percentage of respondents who selected the factor as
important
b) a Weight Index, calculated as the average of the weights attributed to the factor by those
respondents who selected it as important
c) a Growth Index, combining the two other indices according to the following formula:
GI = (Influence Index)*(Weight Index)/10
This index represents the overall estimate of the influence of a factor on the future use of
biological control agents by European farmers.
The scores computed for each of the 12 factors are presented in Table 21. Among the factors
deemed to carry the most impact on future use of biological control by European farmers the action
by far the most cited was the establishment of incentives for farmers (factor D).
Table 21: Impact of twelve factors on the future use of biocontrol agents by European farmers
according to a survey of 320 farmers
A
Factors
Registration for biological control
products remains as present
Influence
Index (%)*
Weight Index*
(scale from
-20 to +20)
Growth
Index*
12 - 15 - 18.0
Rank of
positive
influence
B Involvement of distribution 65 8 52.0 4
C Size / strength of the manufacturers 55 12 66.0 3
D Incentives to growers 87 18 156.6 1
E Education of advisors and growers 27 8 21.6 5
F Decision Support Systems available 12 7 7.2 9
G
Pull from wholesalers and food
industry
43 16 66.8 2
H Stringent registration of chemicals 16 14 22.4 6
I New safe chemical pesticides 42 - 12 - 3.0
J Progress in R&D of Biocontrol 8 14 11.2 8
K New resistant varieties 16 - 4 - 6.4
L Pull from Consumers 67 2 13,4 7
* see main text above for the specific definition of the indices
The second most important factors based on the Growth Index (G, C and B in Table 21) were
linked to the influence of key economic actors (the wholesalers, the food industry, the distributors
and manufacturers of biocontrol products). The factors with the lowest scores were those related to
scientific innovation (factors K, I, J). Interestingly, both factors linked to regulatory aspects (factors
H and A) also had a relatively low Growth Index. The registration requirements are obviously more
a concern for the industry than for the users of the plant protection products. Surprisingly, the
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