Weed and Pest Management

The objective of the Consortium's work on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is to provide rice-wheat based cropping systems with ecologically-based pest management that promotes the health of crops, animals and humans, and makes full use of natural and culturally acceptable control processes and methods. These processes and methods will be developed and tested by agricultural research institutions putting the needs of the farmer and the farm family first. Chemical pesticides will be used and recommended only where and when other measures, including host resistance and biological control, clearly fail to keep pests below economically damaging levels. All interventions will be need-based and applied in ways that minimize undesirable side-effects. The term 'Pests' includes insects, diseases, weeds, vertebrates, and nematodes. This objective will be achieved by a diverse set of activities, many of which are already on-going. However, some additional activities, largely additive, integrative, and experimental in nature, will be required to implement the holistic vision of the Consortium and to develop an improved research methodology for the 21st century.

IPM Definitions
As with overall agricultural research, pest management research has hitherto focussed on single pests, be they insects, pathogens, weeds or vertebrates. This approach is no longer adequate to stem the losses which are afflicting the region's rice-wheat farmers. As a result, the Consortium is designing a new multi-pest, multi-disciplinary approach to pest management for rice-wheat cropping. The aim is to provide pest control in the cropping system with minimum chemical use and minimum adverse impact on the environment.

The Consortium defines pests to include insects, diseases, weeds, vertebrates, and soil organisms such as nematodes. In keeping with the holistic philosophy of the Consortium, pest management is seen as part of the ecological consequences of rice-wheat cropping, and intricately linked with the other Consortium fields of activities, notably soil and water management, crop establishment and policy issues. The Consortium's pest management strategy involves:

• multidisciplinary research by NARS scientists with farmers, extension agents (NGOs) and scientists from IARCs,
• the accurate diagnosis of farmers' needs (putting farmers first),
• the formulation of strategies appropriate to meet farmers' short and long-term needs,
• socio-economic monitoring and impact assessment as an integral component of IPM

Integrated Pest Management involves activities carried out by farmers that result in the density of potential pest populations being maintained below levels at which they become pests, without endangering the productivity and profitability of the farming system as a whole, the health of the farm family and its livestock, and the quality of the adjacent and downstream environments.

RWC Publications covering Weed and Pest Management aspects