Deadline: 06-Oct-21
European Commission is calling for proposals for EU-China International Cooperation on Integrated Pest Management in Agriculture.
Scope
- A high percentage of food crops is lost to plant pests and diseases annually.
- At the same time, concerns are mounting over the impact of pesticides used in agriculture on the environment, non-target organisms and human health.
- Proposals should support the development and implementation of integrated pest management practices for crops where the dependency on conventional chemical pesticides is the highest, and where the exchange of information, best practices and technologies is of benefit to the EU, Associated Countries and China.
- Proposals should:
- enlarge the range of tools available for integrated pest management practices, such as crop diversification leading to more functional diversity, effective cropping techniques, appropriate species and varieties resistant to pests, the development of biological control agents, the preservation and enhancement of natural enemies of pests etc.;
- develop technologies enabling the prevention, modelling and monitoring of pest emergence allowing timely and appropriate intervention in line with the principles of integrated pest management;
- develop risk assessment methods for assessing the risks and environmental impacts of these technologies;
- support capacity building, training and education enabling farmers/growers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices in pest management and the establishment of a reward/incentives system.
Funding Information
Grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000 except for:
- public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
- cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).
Expected Outcomes
- In line with the farm to fork strategy, the successful proposals will help to promote a global transition to sustainable food systems.
- They will therefore help to ensure sustainability of agri-food systems, catering for the needs of a growing population and support the development and implementation of integrated pest management practices.
- They will strengthen international cooperation with actors from China in the areas of integrated pest management.
- Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:
- reduce the use of pesticides for crops of importance to the EU, Associated Countries and China which dependency on chemical pest management is currently high;
- increase on-farm use and implementation of integrated pest management practices;
- develop integrated pest management training for farmers/growers and extend the range of applications through incentives to increase the uptake of integrated pest management practices;
- raise awareness of integrated pest management practices and improve product quality and food safety by decreased residue concentrations of pesticides in crops and lower environmental impact.
Eligibility Criteria
- Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
- A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
- To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
- eligible non-EU countries:
- countries associated to Horizon Europe
- low- and middle-income countries
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