Management of Agricultural Pests: Strategies and Constraints

Abstract

Agriculture is an intensive activity which is harmed by the attack of multifarious pests. Several measures have been adopted to control these pests among which the use of chemical insecticides is the most frequently used measure. Despite the effectiveness of chemical insecticides, their extensive use has led to pest resistance, their entry in food chain, biomagnification, and adverse effects on human and environmental health. This represents a significant challenge as alternative control methods, such as cultural, biological, microbial, and transgenic approaches, though safer, are often more expensive and time-consuming. Without effective pest management strategies, diverse pest populations continuously and intensively damage crops leading to significant economic losses and threatening agricultural productivity and food security. Therefore, there is a constant search for newer and safer pest control tools, which are implemented after thorough field trials. This chapter highlights the problems associated with insect pests, the potential solutions, and various agricultural practices to address the critical problem of pest management.