organic farming

1. ORGANIC PEST MANAGEMENT
Submitted to
• Keshar Singh Solanki
Submitted by
• Dr. L.J. Desai
An
Assignment
on

2. General
• Immense commercialisation of agriculture has had a
very negative effect on the environment. The use of
pesticides has led to enormous levels of chemical
build-up in our environment, in soil, water, air, in
animals and even in our own bodies. Fertilisers have a
short-term effect on productivity but a longer-term
negative effect on the environment where they remain
for years after leaching and running off, contaminating
ground water and water bodies. The use of hybrid
seeds and the practice of monoculture has led to a
severe threat to local and indigenous varieties, whose
germplasm can be lost for ever. All this for
"productivity".

3. In the name of growing more to feed the earth, it
has taken the wrong road of unsustainability. The
effects show - farmers committing suicide in
growing numbers with every passing year; the
horrendous effects of pesticide sprays, pesticide
contaminated bottled water and aerated
beverages are only some instances. The bigger
picture that rarely makes news however is that
millions of people are still underfed, and where
they do get enough to eat, the food they eat has
the capability to eventually kill them.

4. Losses due to Pests
Insect pests, diseases and weeds are the major constraints
limiting agricultural productivity growth. It is estimated that
herbivorous insects eat about 26 percent of the potential
food production. Emerging problems of insecticide
resistance, secondary pest outbreak and resurgence further
add to the cost.
India are estimated to be 18 percent of the agricultural
output. Losses caused by specific pests may be higher.
Helicoverpa spp. in cotton causes losses up to 50 percent.
According to Raheja and Tewari (1996), H. Armigera
(American bollworm) alone causes an annual loss of about
Rs1000 crores.

5. • Another negative effect of this trend has been on the fortunes of
the farming communities worldwide. Despite this so-called
increased productivity, farmers in practically every country around
the world have seen a downturn in their fortunes. This is where
organic farming comes in. Organic farming has the capability to take
care of each of these problems. Besides the obvious immediate and
positive effects organic or natural farming has on the environment
and quality of food, it also greatly helps a farmer to become
selfsufficient in his requirements for agro-inputs and reduce his
costs. Modern farming affects our world, by the way of land
exhaustion, nitrate run off, soil erosion, soil compaction, loss of
cultivated biodiversity, habitat destruction, contaminated food and
destruction of traditional knowledge systems and traditions. Thus
to overcome the ill effects of modern agriculture, can be delineated
by adopting organic farming.

6. The production losses have shown an increasing trend over
the years. In 1983, the losses due to insect pests were
estimated worth ₨ 6,000 crores (Krishnamurthy Rao and
Murthy, 1983), which increased to ₨ 20,000 crores in 1993
(Jayaraj,1993) and to 29,000 crores in 1996 (Dhaliwal and
Arora, 1996). New pests have appeared due to the changes
in the cropping patternsand the intensive agricultural
practices.

7. Pest resistant varieties:
• Breeding for pest resistance is a continuous process. At the same
time the pests also, particularly the plant pathogens, co-evolve with
their hosts. Thus, gene transfer technology is useful in developing
cultivars resistant to insects, plant pathogens and herbicides. An
example of this is the incorporation of genetic material from
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a naturally occurring bacterium, in
cotton, corn, and potatoes, which makes the plant tissues toxic to
the insect pests. Scientific community is impressed by its huge
potential in managing the pests, but is also concerned about the
possibility of increased selection pressure for resistance against it
and its effects on non-target natural fauna. However, due to ethical,
scientific and social considerations, this potential technology has
been surrounded by controversies.

8. Physical or mechanical controls
These are based on the knowledge of pest behaviour.
• Placing plastic-lined trenches in potato fields to trap
migrating Colorado potato beetles is one example of the
physical control.
• Shaking of the pigeonpea plant to remove Helicoverpa
larvae is a common practice in pigeonpea growing areas.
• Hand picking of insect pests is perhaps the simplest pest
control method.
• Installation of dead as well as live bird perches in cotton
and chickpea fields has proved effective in checking the
bollworm infestation.
• Using mulches to smother weeds and providing row covers
to protect plants from insects are other examples.

9. Cultural pest control
It includes crop production practices that make crop environment
less susceptible to pests. Crop rotation, fallowing, manipulation of
planting and harvesting dates, manipulation of plant and row
spacing, and destruction of old crop debris are a few examples of
cultural methods that are used to manage the pests. Planting of
cover crops, nectar producing plants and inter-planting of different
crops to provide habitat diversity to beneficial insects are important
management techniques. Cover crops, often legume or grass
species, prevent soil erosion and suppress weeds. A cover crop can
also be used as a green manure, which is incorporated in the soil to
provide nitrogen and organic matter to the subsequent crop. When
incorporated in the soil, some cover crops of the Brassica family
have the ability to suppress nematode pests and wilt diseases. Left
in the field as residues, rye and wheat provide more than 90
percent weed suppression. Cultural controls are selected based on
knowledge of pest biology and development.

10. Biological controls
These include augmentation and conservation of natural enemies of
pests such as insect predators, parasitoids, parasitic nematodes,
fungi and bacteria. In IPM programmes, native natural enemy
populations are conserved, and non-native agents may be released
with utmost caution. Trichogramma spp. are the most popular
parasitoids being applied on a number of host crops. A number of
microorganisms such as Trichoderma spp., Verticillium spp.,
Aspergillus spp., Bacillus spp. And Pseudomonas spp. that attack
and suppress the plant pathogens have been exploited as biological
control agents.

11. Estimated demand of different
biopesticides to cover major crops
Bio-agents/Pheromones Demand to cover 50% of area
Trichoderma preparation 5000 tonnes
Trichogramma 4000 lakh cc
Helicoverpa NPV 4200 lakhs LE
Spodoptera NPV 19000 lakh LE
Helicoverpa pheromone trap 350 lakhs
Spodoptera pheromone trap 350 lakhs

13. REFERENCES
• http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/7251.pdf