Area coverage with IPM Part I.

India is an agrarian country. Indian Agriculture and allied Industries-Industry report May 2021,Agriculture is the primary source livelyhood for about 58%people of India.people doing  farming or agriculture as a profession are called as farmers .Farmers are doing farming or Agriculture with the objectives to produce bumper crop with minimum expenditure and want to get high sell price of their Agricultural produce .But as per the concept of IPM the farmers must grow the  crops with the following objectives.

1.To grow crops or to get rid of pest problems with minimum expenditure,minimum use of chemical pesticides and chemical fertilizers and least disturbance to community health, Environment, ecosystem, biodiversity, natural its resources and society.

Crop management though systematic approach is the modern concept of IPM

2.To grow Quality Agricultural commodities to trade .

3.To ensure food security along with food safety.

4 Conservation of  Environment,,natural resources ,biodiversity,and ecosystem.

5.Frofitable crops and to enhance farmers income .

6.To produce healthy crops,safe crops,profitable and bumper crops .

7.Economical Development along with Environmental, ecological natural and social sevelopment.

8.To maintain harmony with nature and society.

9.To keep ecosystem active.

10..To maintainthe fertility of the soil ..

11To grow pesticide residue free food.

12.To keep society healthy.

IPM a way of farming without harming to the nature and society and also to fulfill the  above mentioned objectives.

II.Agriculture itself is an Integrated technology involving various available, affordable,feasible and acceptable  crop production and protection technologies or methods  in  compatible manner. 

13.Any technology is initialy demonstrated by the Extention officers but implemented by the farmers in their fields by way of adopting the different methods   in compatible manner.

14.All the methods which are available, affordable, feasible ,acceptable for society,used for crop production and crop protection  with the objectives mentioned above are included in IPM  technology hence this whole area covered by the farmers for crop production and protection comes in IPM as the use of chemicals in crop production and protection is also a component of IPM technology only as an an emergency tool.  Some times a single method including with other methods of crop protection and production also give rise thecrop produced with the qualities mentioned above  also  comes in IPM  concept. 

 The use of Bt Cotton  started since 2006 to control Cotton boll worms which showed its performance up to ten years continuously and during 2016 the resistance for the Pink boll worm  have broken. This variety have covered nearly 90 % area under Cotton.

Similarly the success  stories if different biocontrol agents and biopesticides can also be included n IPM programme as they were used along with other methods of pest management in compatible manner to behave like   IPM  tools .

Generally the farmers use all the methods mentioned in IPM package of practices except which are not required or available  to the farmers.

discard and reduce the use of chemicals ie pesticides and fertilizers and use them only as a last resort only to combat the pest emergency is the basic principle of IPM .Hence all the area covered by the farmers for crop production and protection comes in IPM.

15. Few people engaged in IPM work consider only that plant Protction work in which only bio control agents ,biopesticides  ,different types of traps , etc are used  in crop production and protection programming IPM  but in my opinion it is not like this .These are the IPM inputs which can only facilitate the IPM work .IPM  inputs can not be considered as essential inputs  for crop production and protection system  but they are facilitating inputs of IPM.. 

16.IPM is not against the use of 

the chemical pesticides and fertilizers but it is definitely against the misuse of the chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Whole cultivated area covered for crop production and protection comes under IPM even the area covered for use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.It is experienced that few farmers apply maximum numbers of pesticides applications while few get crops with minimum numbers of applications of pesticides and few farmers apply in between these minimum and  maximum  numbers of applications of chemical pesticides. Crops cultivated with all these applications of chemical pesticides comes under IPM as the applications of chemical pesticides is also one of the methods of IPM but as a last resort as an emergency tool.