Integrated Pest Management

Integrated pest management (IPM) refers to techniques of managing the pest by making use of cultural, chemical and biological methods in the form of integrated module (specific to each crop and each situation).

IPM techniques include a mix of all available cultural methods integrated with possible biological methods and a minimized unavoidable chemical methods to control the pests. The IPM technique do not aim at one pest at a time and do not use one method of control at a time. It is a system based approach where entire ecosystem is taken into consideration to control all pests by making use of natural methods.

Many cultural methods are widely recommended. Some of the them are

a) Appropriate crop rotation

b) Timely preparation of soil for sowing

c) Timely sowing/planting operations

d) Use of suitable crop varieties

e) Selection of compatible crops for mixed and intercropping

f) Planting of trap crops (target weed) with main crop to attract the pests.

These cultural methods are mixed with appropriate biological method and inevitable chemical method to form a module - specifically useful for a given situation. IPM techniques are now being popularized widely.