Holistic Pest Management Strategies in Tropical Plant Species

Abstract

The tropical climate shift is causing herbivores to emerge almost ceaselessly throughout the year in certain regions exhibiting homodynamic cycles and unbalanced biodiversity. Crop management and pest management are being viewed as separate activities, with recent focus on sustainability. Even though there is a great deal of information on crop loss assessment, systems analysis, systems modelling, individual pest sciences, and pest management, the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) concept is not frequently deployed. The IPM system is a multi-tactic approach to pest management in agricultural production that takes into account economic, environmental, ecological, and human health implications. This paper provides an overview of key achievements in the development of management strategies, including the transition from a specific level of pest control that focuses on the suppression of target pests to an eco-friendlier and/or systems approach to pest management that employs a variety of non-chemical options as well as the judicious use of pesticides. The agroecological protection techniques and their integration to sustainably minimise pest risks are also reviewed here and describe technological advances in tropical pest management using host resistance, semiochemicals, natural enemies, selective pesticides, ecological engineering and habitat management which promotes sustainable pest management.