Multiple, inter cropping can trap insects before they become pests, says expert

NAGPUR: Multiple cropping (growing many crops simultaneously), and intercropping (growing different crops between rows of a single crop) can completely do away with the problem of pest attacks, and help minimize or eliminate use of pesticides. Ignoring this well known fact, agriculture department as well as farmers have resorted to extreme and unscientific use of pesticides, raising costs for farmers, and even leading to farm labour deaths recently due to pesticide inhalation.

Experts claim that monocropping (single crop) like cotton, soyabean, orange etc over huge stretches of land has disturbed the ecological balance, which has resulted in pest attacks on crops.

Manohar Parchure, a long-time propagator of organic cropping, told TOI that the root cause of increasing pest attacks is monocropping. "Pests are attracted to any crop mainly due to its odour. For example, bollworm attacks on cotton can be prevented provided you have 'trap crops' like ambadi, cowpea in between the crop. Trap crops also confuse insects and they stay away from the main crop. Also, the insects attracted to cowpea are natural predators of bollworm, and eat the pests," said Parchure.

Parchure, who was a member of the Centre's expert committee on organic farming, says monocropping is suitable for developed countries, where people own lands in hundreds of acres. In the absence of labour, they use helicopters to spray their crops. But the situation in India is just the opposite as land holdings are very small.

"Andhra Pradesh has switched to 'no pesticidal management' or NPM strategy, after excessive use of pesticides and huge number of suicides, and now there is negligible use of pesticides there. This concept was brought there by Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA), and the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP). In five years, lakhs of farmers in over 35,000 villages have changed their agriculture methods. They grow as many as 25 crops on the periphery of their fields, which act as pest repellents," said Parchure.

If farmers continue to grow a single crop and use pesticides, the pests develop resistance towards the pesticide. This has happened in cotton, and bollworm has developed resistance. State agriculture department and government need to take cognisance of this and educate farmers about organic cropping. States like AP and Kerala are working towards becoming completely organic in eight and five years respectively. "Maharashtra government too had formed a committee for this, but it has not submitted its report for years," said Parchure.

He largely blames entomologists for the present situation. He said entomologists started with pest eradication concepts, but when they saw that it was not possible, they switched to pest control. When this failed, they called it Pest Management Programme, and now they are calling it Integrated Pest Management (IPM). But AP is showing the way with the NPM.

"Actually, all insects are needed. Pest is not a problem but a symptom. Disturbance in ecological balance among different components of crop ecosystem makes certain insects reach the pest status,'' said Parchure.

GROWTH PATH

* Farmers should be told not to panic and spray after noticing any harmful insect on the crop. They should be taught 'threshold limits' for each insect

* Multiple cropping is a built-in insurance against pests. If farmers follow a system of one main crop-two intercrops, and a host of all (more than 20) seasonal crops on periphery of the field, it will keep pests away

* Monocropping should be stopped as the first step towards control of pests