A free online information resource aimed at enhancing the awareness and uptake of biological control and biopesticide products among growers and advisors. The CABI BioProtection Portal helps users to identify, source and correctly apply biological control and biopesticide products for their particular crop-pest problems. The tool is viewable on smartphones, tablets and desktop computers so as to accommodate the different needs of its users.

Growers and advisors who need current and reliable information, on-demand, regarding the availability and correct use of effective, lower toxicity products that are registered locally and meet market requirements. It is particularly beneficial for growers who are looking to replace the use of more toxic chemical pesticides with biological products in order to meet market/export standards, or simply to increase the range of biological products that they currently use. This tool is also of potential interest to biocontrol manufacturers who are looking to promote wider uptake of their products, as well as governmental regulators (pesticide registrars) and private sector decision-makers, e.g. out-grower schemes, cooperatives, organisations operating voluntary certification schemes.

No, the portal is free for end users.

Users enter their country and crop-pest query to begin a search. This search generates a list of biological control and biopesticide products (together with their active ingredient and manufacturer/registrant) that are registered for use in the specified country for the particular crop-pest combination. Information is sourced directly from national governments’ lists of registered pesticides. 

More detailed information is also provided for our partners’ products, for example, mode of action, specific storage/application instructions, contact details of distributors, etc. Links to product labels, company websites, product factsheets, safety data sheets, are also embedded in the portal. This information enables users to make an informed decision as to which product to buy and how to use it correctly.

The content of the portal is updated regularly and in accordance with the frequency with which each country updates its own lists.

The CABI BioProtection Portal was launched officially in Kenya in February 2020 and has been expanding rapidly across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas ever since. Countries are selected in collaboration with our partners, sponsors and donors.

Find out more about which countries are currently included in the portal and which are in the pipeline at https://bioprotectionportal.com/roadmap.

Yes, users are able to navigate around much of the website in the local languages of the countries in the portal, as well as in English. The search tool is currently only available in the local language of each country; however, English will be added in the near future.

The portal must receive funds to ensure it is developed and maintained as a free-to-use, up-to-date and reliable global source of biological control and biopesticide product information. There are three funding schemes to meet the budget requirements:

1. Partner Membership – partners (e.g. private sector biocontrol manufacturers, distributors, etc.) make a three-year commitment to support the development of the portal and pay fixed annual partnership fees built around their annual biocontrol revenues, as outlined in the table below.

2. Sponsorship – sponsors (e.g. private sector stakeholders) contribute through a tiered annual sponsorship towards the development and maintenance of the portal (Bronze: Euro 1,000; Silver: Euro 2,500; Gold: Euro 5,000 and Platinum: Euro 10,000.

3. Donor funding scheme – CABI receives contributions from governmental agencies to develop and maintain the portal according to their priorities, focus countries and funding schemes.

Partners, Sponsors and Donors are invited to participate actively in the Development Consortium to review project deliverables and milestones, as well as to provide advice on strategic and technical issues relevant for the future development of the Database. Membership to the Development Consortium brings the following privileges

• Influence on the development of the Database, through one seat at bi-annual meetings of the Development Consortium, or equivalent input through correspondence with CABI. This includes making a final decision on the name of the Database and prioritizing the sequence of countries covered by the Database.
• Clear acknowledgement of their Partner, Sponsor and Donor Membership on the Database through display of their logo, with links through to their website, and relevant Database-related marketing communications.
• Complimentary access to basic Database analytics, e.g. number of users per country per week/month, overview of crop-pest searches, etc.

In return for their valuable contributions, partners enjoy the following privileges:

• Opportunity to display additional product information on the portal (e.g. labels, product technical factsheets, application information, distributor information, etc), in local languages, relating to registered biological control products in the countries included in the CABI BioProtection Portal.
• Clear acknowledgement of partner, sponsor and donor membership through display of company logo on the portal website (hyperlinked to company website) and in relevant portal-related marketing communications.
• Complimentary access to Market Analytics Reports generated from the portal (e.g. number of users in real time or over specified periods of time, overview of crop-pest searches, user interactions with company products, etc.) for the initial period (3 years) and a 10% discount from the annual purchase price for the first three years after the initial period.
• A 10% discount from the annual Partner Membership Rate for the first three years after the initial period.
• Influence on the development of the portal, through one seat at bi-annual meetings of the Development Consortium, or equivalent input through correspondence with CABI. This includes prioritizing the sequence of countries covered by the portal, reviewing project deliverables and milestones, as well as providing advice on strategic and technical issues relevant for the future development of the portal.

CABI is in a unique position, being governed by 50 Member Countries and having multiple additional networks of partners for its research, international development and publishing work across the globe. CABI therefore uses its existing connections to spread the word about the CABI BioProtection Portal and encourage its uptake among the agricultural communities, governments and other relevant institutions. We also have a digital marketing strategy, using numerous communication channels, for large-scale marketing of the portal. Partners of the portal are also encouraged to market the tool among their customer base and distributor networks. User analytics enables us to assess uptake and use of the portal among different user groups across multiple countries, as well as to evaluate and optimise our marketing strategy.