Author(s): S. CHOWDHURY

Abstract: Feeding the 9,000 million people expected to inhabit Earth by 2050 will present a constant and significant challenge in terms of agricultural pest management. This huge target of feeding the 9,000 million plus population is one of the main reasons that attract the policy makers and farmers, especially of the developing countries, to be get trapped in the ambit of the routine chemical pesticide applications that require less attention, effort, and management skill. At the same time, misunderstanding of the costs and benefits pave the way for simple prescriptions for prophylactic pesticides applications as this appears to be simple, attractive and un-demanding with visible results as compared to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices. Many costly (both in socio-economic and environmental terms) chemical pesticide applications are wasted through incorrect practices, including unnecessary preventive application. As chemical pesticides carne into wide use in developing countries, many sound traditional practices were abandoned and pesticides became the sole pest management tool. Little education about the shortcomings of pesticides was offered when pesticides were introduced into developing countries, including non-compatibility with non-target organisms, pest resistance, secondary pest outbreaks, and human and environmental hazards. The above mentioned facts explain the peculiar situation where despite a 15 to 20 fold increase in pesticide use since the 1960s, global crop losses to pests - arthropods, diseases, and weeds - have remained unsustainably high, even increasing in some cases. These losses tend to be highest in developing countries, averaging 40 – 50 per cent, compared with 25 – 30 per cent in high-income countries. Alarmingly, crop pest problems are projected to increase because of agricultural intensification, trade globalization and, potentially, climate change.

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