Department of Soil and Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Great Zimbabwe University, P.O. Box 1235, Masvingo, Zimbabwe

Botanical pesticides have captured a great interest amongst the research community internationally. They have great economic considerations and potential health benefits, but there is lack of regulatory environment in Zimbabwe. The Government of Zimbabwe should enable legal and policy framework so that the use of ethnobotanical pesticides becomes formal and legal. Private and public institutions need to invest in rigorous research to assure policy makers and public about environmental safety and effectiveness of ethnobotanicals. Dedicated procedure for registration and trade is a requirement for botanical pesticides. Agrochemical companies have resources to satisfy regulatory requirements for synthetic pesticides hence they need to do the same on pesticidal plants. The demand for botanical pesticides in Zimbabwe is increasing as most people are into organic farming which is a drive towards climate smart agriculture. In Zimbabwe, several researches have been conducted on various crop protection backgrounds but there is need to review legislations, regulations and policy frameworks for production, marketing and trade of pesticidal plants in Zimbabwe.