Nature’s Complexity for Crop Protection: Integrating Botanical Solutions into Biodiverse Agricultural Landscapes

In this concept paper, we examine multidimensional effects of botanical, plant-based pesticides through a farmer-centric lens. We first analyse the existing literature regarding the environmental and crop-protection benefits of botanicals and then explore challenges associated with their adoption. Additionally, we analyse the context-dependent impacts of botanicals on beneficial non-target organisms, such as parasitoids. Throughout, we emphasize our understanding of the direct implications for smallholder farmers. We show that most methodologies used in developing botanicals are not participatory but rather top-down and driven by interests and decisions of researchers. Furthermore, existing literature remains highly technical, focusing mainly on biochemical properties and species-specific impacts while overlooking field relevance for resource-constrained producers. The outlook similarly prioritizes laboratory efficacy, biochemical optimization, and commercial scale production, while neglecting socioeconomic and infrastructural limitations faced by rural communities. Finally, our evaluation indicates that existing research into botanicals tends to be reductionist, often focusing on single compound or pest species, and thereby does not consider the influence of agrobiodiversity on the potential applications and effectiveness of botanicals, limiting their development and use in practice. To bridge this critical gap, we propose farmer-inclusive research pathways and a multi-dimensional matrix to ensure that future botanical innovations are practically and economically viable.