Tropical value chains: synthetic pesticide use can be reduced

Science at work 19 March 2026
In 2022, CIRAD, with the support of Agropolis Fondation and the FARM Foundation, launched the PRETAG (Pesticide Reduction for Tropical Agricultures) initiative. The aim was to tackle the challenge of reducing synthetic pesticide use in tropical agriculture while ensuring that farms remained economically viable. The initiative’s results have been compiled in a thematic report in Cahiers Agriculture, which has just been released on line. They were also shared at a conference on crop protection in Paris, organised by FARM ahead of the One Health Summit in Lyon on 7 April.
The PRETAG initiative aims to reduce pesticide use in several tropical value chains © R. Belmin, CIRAD

The PRETAG initiative aims to reduce pesticide use in several tropical value chains ©  R. Belmin, CIRAD

The realities of life for farmers in tropical and Mediterranean countries should be the starting point for designing possible transitions towards systems using less or zero synthetic pesticides and fostering the large-scale adoption of alternatives. It is important to progress on this, by taking account of concerns regarding health, environmental sustainability, social equity and economic viability.
François-Xavier Côte
CIRAD, coordinator, PRETAG (Pesticide Reduction for Tropical Agricultures) initiative

 

PRETAG paved the way for an effective rein pesticide use in key tropical value chains, notably banana, cocoa, coffee, rice and periurban vegetable production.

The initiative analysed the technical, institutional, organisational and partnership-related obstacles to and levers for a transition towards reduced synthetic pesticide use I tropical farming systems.

By federating a number of projects, PRETAG has served to:

  • assess pesticide use in five tropical value chains (banana, cocoa, coffee, periurban market gardening and rice) in West Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, 
  • build a multi-stakeholder community working to reduce pesticide use in tropical agriculture,
  • lay the foundations for an international initiative aimed at reducing pesticide use.

The results show that: 

  • 92 active ingredients are used in the five value chains, of which almost 40% can be seen as of concern in terms of health and/or environmental risks; 
  • 20 technical levers are particularly important for developing alternatives and reducing pesticide use. In combination, they can be used as alternatives based on the principles of plant and ecosystem health and more generally those of agroecology. 

See the PRETAG (Pesticide Reduction for Tropical Agricultures) Initiative Guide de protection agroécologique des cultures tropicales en 20 leviers techniques.

They also demonstrate:

  • the type of institutional and organisational obstacles in public policy (standards, regulations, grants, taxes, certification, training) to the rollout of technological alternatives to reduce pesticide use; 
  • the levers in terms of knowledge production to inform public policy, investments and orientations in agricultural research.

La réduction de pesticide par des alternatives agroécologiques reste entravée par la baisse du prix des pesticides de synthèse et les politiques de subventions détaxations qui continuent de soutenir leur usages.
Ludovic Temple
Economist, CIRAD

The initiative also offers:

  • feedback on the support given to five groups of stakeholders—ECOFFEE (coffee); IFBD (banana); IFCD (cocoa); CASIC - Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Intensification Consortium, Cambodia (rice); SPG BIO IVOIRE (market gardening)—and a guide to the key stages in making pesticide reduction operational by means of collective action. These collaborative platforms encompass the entire range of change stakeholders, from top to bottom of each chain, via policymakers and research, to enable them to work together on shared pathways to progress;
  • a strategic vision and advocacy document to support transition, based on the recognition and consideration of the constraints on farmers and policymakers in the global South, with backup from a multi-stakeholder Consultative Committee specially set up under the umbrella of the initiative.

There cannot be any form of transition without support and shared responsibility among all the stakeholders in the value chain concerned. This is what warrants multi-stakeholder platforms. The transition pathways built by such platforms, rely on on-farm pilots to document the technical, organisational and commercial feasibility of transitions. This is a precondition for scaling up.
Denis Loeillet
Banana value chain research coordinator, CIRAD

In the banana value chain in Colombia, a number of players—producer, importer/ripener, disributor—have worked on a pilot farm to massively reduce pesticide use.

References

Côte François-Xavier, Le Bellec Fabrice, Martin Thibaud, Temple Ludovic, Blouin Annaig, Loeillet Denis, Baufume Servane, Ghneim Herrera Thaura. 2025. Rapport final de l'initiative "Pesticide Reduction for Tropical Agricultures" (Pretag) 2023-2024. Montpellier: CIRAD, 143 p. https://doi.org/10.18167/agritrop/00835
 
Réduire l’utilisation des pesticides agricoles dans les pays du Sud : verrous et leviers socio-techniques. Cahiers agricultures. 

See also