Neem has had a long history of use primarily against household and storage pests and to some extent against crop pests in India. With the advent of broad-spectrum, toxic insecticides, such as DDT, the use of neem in crop protection declined. However, over the past two decades, neem has been come under close scientific scrutiny ‘as a source of unique natural products for IPM, medicine, industry, and other purposes.
The complex molecular structure of bio-active neem compounds precludes their chemical synthesis economically. Therefore, even the chemical industry will have to rely on the use of raw material. With growing demand for natural pest control materials, the use of neem products is ecoming popular worldwide. In the next decade, it is expected that global neem trade, comprising neem-based pest control materials, edicines, pharmaceuticals, and toiletries will grow to more than $500m. Herein lies a huge window of opportunity to benefit by growing and arnessing neem not only for local use but also for export to regions and countries where neem does not thrive.
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