Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Pest management in agriculture involves strategies to control, prevent, and mitigate pests that threaten crops, aiming to reduce economic losses, protect plant health, and minimize environmental impact while ensuring regulatory compliance. The goal is to keep pest populations below damaging levels while maintaining sustainability and ecological balance. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) achieves this by combining biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical methods for effective, environmentally responsible pest control.
Biological Control: Using natural predators, parasites or pathogens to control pest populations.
Chemical Control: Applying pesticides or biopesticides selectively to manage pest populations while minimizing resistance and environmental harm.
Cultural Control: Modifying agricultural or environmental practices (e.g., crop rotation, sanitation, resistant plant varieties) to reduce pest outbreaks.
Mechanical and Physical Control: Using barriers, traps, hand-picking, or temperature treatments to remove or exclude pests.
Regulatory and Preventative Measures: Implementing quarantine regulations, monitoring programs, and pest-free certification to prevent the introduction and spread of pests.
