Pest Management and IPM

Prerequisites

• Crop Science and Cropping Systems: crop rotation and intercropping are the first line of pest control
• Seed Technology and Crop Improvement: resistant varieties and Bt cotton
• Organic and Natural Farming: botanical and biological inputs

The Hook: Gangai in the Paddy

Why it matters: Mains GS-II asks about IPM, biopesticides, pesticide regulation and the “3R” problem. Pest outbreaks such as fall armyworm and desert locusts appear in current-affairs-linked questions. Chhattisgarh also hosts a national institute devoted to biotic stress in crops.

What Counts as a “Pest”?

A pest (नाशीजीव) is any organism that reduces crop yield or quality enough to matter economically.

Key rice pests and diseases of Chhattisgarh

Methods of Pest Control

Biological control agents

Chemical Pesticides: Classes, Labels and Problems

Classification

The WHO-style toxicity label (colour triangle)

Every pesticide container in India carries a diamond-shaped symbol whose lower triangle is coloured to show toxicity:

The “3R” problem of pesticide overuse

Other harms: secondary pest outbreaks (minor pests become major once enemies are killed), biomagnification of persistent chemicals up the food chain, poisoning of farm workers, and harm to pollinators.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

IPM (एकीकृत नाशीजीव प्रबंधन) is the combined use of all suitable methods, cultural, mechanical, biological, behavioural, host resistance and chemical, to keep pest populations below the level that causes economic loss, with the least harm to people, natural enemies and the environment. The goal is management, not eradication. Chemicals are used as a last resort and only when monitoring shows they are needed.

The threshold idea

Example of an ETL in practice: for yellow stem borer in rice, an ETL is often given as a small percentage of dead hearts or a number of moths per pheromone trap per week. Below that, the farmer does not spray, and natural enemies are left to work.

graph TD
    A["Monitor the field
(scouting, pheromone and light traps, AESA)"] --> B{"Pest population
above ETL?"}
    B -- "No" --> C["Do not spray
Keep cultural, mechanical
and biological measures"]
    B -- "Yes" --> D["Act: first biocontrol and
botanicals; then a selective
chemical at the right dose"]
    D --> A
    C --> A

Tools of an IPM programme

• Prevention: resistant varieties, clean seed, seed treatment with Trichoderma, crop rotation, timely and synchronous sowing across a village, balanced fertiliser
• Monitoring: field scouting, pheromone traps, light traps, Agro-Ecosystem Analysis (AESA), in which farmers count pests and natural enemies before deciding
• Habitat management: trap crops (e.g. marigold around tomato for fruit borer, or as a nematode trap), border crops, refuge rows of non-Bt cotton, flowering plants that shelter natural enemies, bird perches
• Biological control: Trichogramma cards, NPV, Beauveria, conservation of spiders and ladybirds
• Need-based chemicals: selective, least-toxic chemicals at the right dose, time and place
• Farmer Field Schools (FFS): season-long, field-based learning, pioneered for rice IPM in Asia (notably Indonesia) in the late 1980s, and used in India

India’s IPM system: the ICAR–National Centre for Integrated Pest Management (NCIPM), New Delhi, does research; Central Integrated Pest Management Centres (CIPMCs) in the states, under the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, run surveillance, biocontrol production and farmer training.

Case studies for Mains

The Chhattisgarh angle

• Rice IPM matters most: gall midge, stem borer and BPH are the key pests; overuse of nitrogen invites BPH and blast.
• IGKV, Raipur and its regional stations breed gall-midge-resistant rice and run pest forecasting; NIBSM, Raipur researches biotic stress nationally.
• Bastar and the northern hills use few chemicals, a base for IPM and organic production.
• Stray cattle and wild animals (including elephant movement in the northern districts) are vertebrate “pests” that discourage rabi cropping, a social problem as much as a scientific one.

Memory Tricks

Don’t Confuse

Common Mistakes

Practice

All questions below are original practice questions written in CGPSC style. They are not previous-year questions.

Level 1: Foundation

1. The pest population level at which control measures should be started is called the ______.
2. The egg parasitoid released in fields as “Tricho-cards” is ______.
3. The rice pest known in Chhattisgarh as gangai is the ______.

Level 2: Prelims-style MCQs

Q1. Consider the following statements about Integrated Pest Management:

1. Its aim is to eradicate pest populations completely.
2. Chemical pesticides may be used when the pest population crosses the economic threshold level.
3. The economic threshold level is set lower than the economic injury level.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 only
• (b) 2 and 3 only
• (c) 1 and 3 only
• (d) 1, 2 and 3

Q2. Match List I (Biocontrol agent) with List II (Target):

• (a) A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3
• (b) A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3
• (c) A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1
• (d) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3

Q3. A pesticide container carries a yellow triangle label. This indicates that the product is:

• (a) Extremely toxic
• (b) Highly toxic
• (c) Moderately toxic
• (d) Slightly toxic

Q4. Brown planthopper outbreaks in rice after repeated broad-spectrum insecticide spraying are an example of:

• (a) Pest resistance
• (b) Pest resurgence
• (c) Biomagnification
• (d) Host plant resistance

Q5. Fall armyworm, an invasive pest first reported in India in 2018, mainly attacks:

• (a) Rice
• (b) Maize
• (c) Cotton
• (d) Sugarcane

Level 3: Mains Answer Writing

Q1. (60 words) What is the “3R” problem of pesticide overuse?

Q2. (150–200 words) “Integrated Pest Management is a knowledge-intensive, not input-intensive, approach.” Discuss its components and the challenges in adopting it in Chhattisgarh.

Quick Revision Table

Key Takeaways

What’s Next

• Agricultural Science — Quick Revision: the whole chapter on one page
• Biotechnology: Bt genes and biopesticides in more depth
• Pollution and Waste Management: pesticide residues and biomagnification
• Agriculture and the Economy: crop insurance and losses from pest outbreaks