Synergistic Improvement of Production, Economic Return and Sustainability in the Tea Industry through Ecological Pest Management

Abstract

The use of ecological principles to manage plant pests has attracted renewed attention, but our knowledge related to the contributions of ecological pest management to social and natural sustainability is fragmented. In this study, we compared the performance and resilience of tea production and the economic benefits of tea ecological management (TEM) and tea conventional management (TCM). We show that TEM significantly improved tea biomass and quality, nutritional efficiency, and beneficial insects, but reduced seasonal variation. As a result, economic return increased by $8045/ha in the TEM mode compared to $6064/ha in the TCM mode. These results confirm that TEM is a promising production mode that can reconcile the conflict between the immediate and long-term service of agriculture. However, environmental improvements associated with organic pest control benefit society, and the government should provide adequate financial support to promote the production system.

Keywords

pest management; eco-economic analysis; tea production; ecological resilience; sustainable agriculture

Published in

Horticulturae
2022, volume: 8, number: 12, article number: 1155
Publisher: MDPI

SLU Authors

• Zhan, Jiasui

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

SLU Plant Protection Network

Global goals (SDG)

SDG9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science
Ecology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8121155

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/120752