What is the actual amount of pesticide use in China?

1 Modern agricultural production is inseparable from pesticides.

China is a major agricultural country with a diverse array of cultivated crops. Each year, more than 100 types of diseases, pests, and weeds pose significant threats. Given the current state of scientific and technological advancement, pesticides remain the most effective tool for managing these challenges, particularly in controlling sudden outbreaks of pests and diseases—where they play an irreplaceable role compared to other methods.

In ancient times, slash-and-burn agriculture was the norm, resulting in low agricultural productivity and meager crop yields. With the advent of agricultural modernization—particularly the widespread use of pesticides, fertilizers, and high‑yielding crop varieties—both efficiency and output have increased dramatically. Thanks to pesticides’ effective control of diseases, pests, and weeds, farmers have been relieved of arduous labor, and the scene of “hoeing crops at noon” has become a thing of the past. As a result, farmers now have more time to pursue other pursuits or savor the pleasures of life.

Compared with other plant protection measures such as cultural control, biological control, and physical control, chemical pesticides offer advantages including broad applicability, ease of use, large-scale deployment, rapid action, and pronounced efficacy. Particularly when a harmful organism is on the verge of erupting into a full-blown outbreak, chemical control often remains the only viable and effective option. Statistics show that improper pesticide application or premature cessation of treatment can reduce crop yields by 35% to 40%, with losses in fruits and vegetables reaching as high as 40% to 60%, and in some cases even resulting in total crop failure the following year. Throughout history, there have been numerous instances where pest and disease outbreaks led to complete crop failures, triggering famine and social unrest. For example, in 1992, the cotton bollworm caused an unprecedented nationwide infestation, reducing cotton production by more than 50% in severely affected areas and by over 30% nationally. Similarly, wheat stripe rust swept across the country three times—in 1950, 1964, and 1990—resulting in losses of 5 million, 3 million, and 2.65 million tons of wheat, respectively.

Although non-chemical control methods can also be effective against pests and diseases, when a particular pest or pathogen erupts, chemical control remains the only means of rapidly containing the outbreak and safeguarding crop yields.

It can be asserted that, for the foreseeable future, the development of modern agriculture and the assurance of food supply will remain inseparable from pesticides.

2 Pesticides do more good than harm.

Like any technological innovation in human progress, chemical pesticides are a double-edged sword: they can benefit humanity, yet also entail adverse side effects that run counter to human interests. The most significant of these side effects is their toxicity to humans, livestock, and other beneficial organisms.

The benefits of pesticides are most evident in their role as a crucial safeguard for achieving bountiful agricultural harvests: when used appropriately, they effectively control pests and diseases, eradicate weeds, and enhance both the yield and quality of crops. In the realm of public health and disease prevention, pesticides also play an indispensable role by boosting the production of animal‑derived foods, reducing the incidence of vector‑borne and parasitic diseases, and helping to manage zoonotic illnesses.

The drawbacks of pesticides stem from unscientific practices and their overuse, which give rise to food‑safety and ecological‑security concerns. While pesticides help control agricultural pests, they also pose toxic risks to beneficial organisms, including humans, livestock, poultry, honeybees, silkworms, birds, natural enemies of pests, and the beneficial microbial communities in soil. Moreover, pesticide residues that enter water bodies can contaminate aquatic life and groundwater. Fortunately, current scientific management and proper application of pesticides have reduced associated risks to very low levels.

3 Pesticide Use Data in China

At present, data on pesticide use in China are primarily sourced from three channels: FAO statistics, the National Bureau of Statistics, and the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center (Table 1). For instance, in 2018, the FAO reported pesticide use of 1.7736 million tonnes, while the National Bureau of Statistics recorded 1.5036 million tonnes—both figures refer to the quantity of formulated pesticide products. By contrast, the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center reported a “conversion‑to‑100% active ingredient” measure of 268,400 tonnes. Since both the FAO and the National Bureau of Statistics report usage in terms of formulated product weight, whereas the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center uses the conversion‑to‑100% active ingredient metric, the ratio of formulated weight to converted weight ranges from 1:5.60 to 1:6.61.

According to data on the hundred‑percent active ingredient content of pesticides, China’s pesticide usage totaled 299,500 tonnes in 2015 and declined to 268,400 tonnes by 2018, a reduction of 31,600 tonnes, or 10.6%, over the three‑year period. In 2015, the country’s total sown area was 166.8 million hectares, with a per‑hectare pesticide application rate of 1.795 kg/ha; by 2018, the total sown area had decreased to 165.9 million hectares, while the per‑hectare application rate fell to 1.618 kg/ha, representing a 9.9% decline. Publicly available figures indicate that in 2018, California’s pesticide use amounted to 94,800 tonnes, covering 42.7 million hectares, with an application rate of 2.22 kg/ha. These data show that China’s per‑hectare pesticide use is significantly lower than that of California. Moreover, since China’s pesticides are employed not only in agriculture but also for forest pest and disease control, post‑harvest grain storage, import/export quarantine, and public health pest management, the actual per‑hectare pesticide application rate in Chinese agriculture should be even lower than the calculated 1.618 kg/ha for 2018.

4 China’s share of global pesticide production

In China, it is common to hear experts at various conferences or in project‑approval reports state that the per‑unit‑area use of pesticides in China is two to three times that of developed countries (with some reports citing even higher figures), and that 9% of China’s arable land accounts for 50% to 60% of the world’s pesticide consumption.

Since the data reported by China are expressed in terms of pesticide formulation quantities, and given that different countries use varying pesticide formulations with widely differing active ingredient concentrations, such formulation‑based figures are not comparable.

China is vigorously developing water-based, environmentally friendly formulations; typically, suspension concentrates and emulsifiable concentrates contain 30% to 50% active ingredient. For the widely used pesticide avermectin, the active‑ingredient content is generally only 1.8%. Meanwhile, in recent years, many newly developed fertilizer‑pesticide granules have active‑ingredient levels below 0.5%, with some even as low as 0.01%. Consequently, calculating pesticide application rates based on formulation concentration is unreasonable.

FAO data indicate that the United States used 407,800 metric tons of pesticides in 2018. According to publicly available figures, California accounted for 94,800 metric tons of pesticide use in 2018. Given that California’s agricultural output represents approximately 22% of the U.S. total, extrapolating from this share yields an estimated 430,900 metric tons of pesticide use nationwide. By comparing these estimates with the FAO’s reported U.S. pesticide usage, it can be inferred that the 407,800 metric tons cited by the FAO likely refers to the converted (100%-basis) quantity of pesticide use.

Even when comparing pesticide usage between China and the United States, China cannot account for 50% of global pesticide consumption.

Other major producers and users of pesticides worldwide include the United States, Brazil, India, Japan, and others. More than 50 percent of China’s pesticide output is exported, so it is even less likely that China’s pesticide consumption accounts for 50 percent of global usage.

According to pesticide data from Phillips McDougall, the global pesticide market generated total sales of approximately US$46.093 billion in 2020, while China’s pesticide market recorded total sales of about US$7.821 billion, accounting for roughly 16.97% of worldwide sales. Consequently, it can be estimated that China’s pesticide usage represents no more than 20% of global consumption.

Compared with other countries, where per capita arable land is extensive and fallow periods are frequent, China faces the challenge of a large population and limited land, resulting in a high multiple-cropping index; accordingly, China’s pesticide application rate per unit area is not particularly high.

Authors: Cao Aocheng, Yan Dongdong, Wang Qiuxia, Li Yuan, and Fang Wensheng, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Source: New Media Hub for Pesticide Market Information