Current status and challenges of pesticide management in China

China feeds 19% of the world’s population with only 9% of its arable land and 6% fresh water. Food safety and food security are the top priorities for the Chinese government. How to increase crop production while maintain food quality and safety without harming the environment remains one of the biggest challenges for China. Driven by the“Capacity building on effective, accountable, and transparent government”,“Green Development”strategy and“High-quality Development”strategy, pesticide management has made significant improvements in terms of legislation, market inspection, food safety, environmental monitoring, integrated pest management, technical support, and extension in China. In 2021, there were over 740 active ingredients of pesticides, over 41 433 products, and 2.498 million ton in technical grade pesticides, which were registered and manufactured by 1 705 companies. These pesticides were not only used domestically in China, but also exported to over 180 countries or regions to fight against pest problems, with a total export value of 23.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. The percentage of highly toxic pesticides in the overall production has dropped to ~1.3%, and the ten highly toxic pesticides will be phased out within the next five years. In this review, we summarized the major challenges and opportunities in the pesticide management in China.