Sustainable Pest Management in Rainfed Farming Systems

Insect pests are estimated to cause losses of 16% to world attainable crop production with post-harvest losses another 10%, in spite of widespread use of pesticides. Losses due to pests have been estimated for key rainfed crops in different regions of the world. Pest species attack every phenological stage of crop growth; sometimes they are the same species and sometimes different. No one tool can be used to successfully control a pest; integrated pest management principles have been widely adopted and include determining the economic threshold at which control is cost effective. Chemical control is widely used but excessive use can cause resistance in the insect and adverse environmental effects. The enhancement of use of natural enemies of pest insects, and use of crop cultivars resistant to the insects are both very important. Crop management practices used to reduce the impact of pests include crop rotations, intercropping, sowing rates, sowing time and soil tillage. Management of pests requires growers to understand the interactions between the pests and crops in their regions and to use the most appropriate tools to reduce the potential damage. While no one system would be applicable to a crop or to a pest in all rainfed farming systems, some general principles are relevant across regions.