Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Helps Reduce Pesticide Load in Cotton

The adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy by farmers of Bathinda cotton belt of Punjab, India resulted in reduction of insecticidal applications. There was 3-4 times reduction in insecticidal applications in IPM villages (4.86-5.33) over the non-IPM villages (15.16-18.12). A general trend of reduced insecticidal applications of both conventional as well as new insecticides, in IPM villages as compared to non-IPM ones, was observed. However, the use of endosulfan was significantly more in IPM villages (1.07 and 0.85 applications) over non-IPM ones (0.49 and 0.32 applications) in 2002 and 2003, respectively. The use of the remaining insecticides was significantly less in IPM than in non-IPM villages. There was no application of non-recommended insecticides and mixtures in IPM villages while it was observed in non-IPM ones only. Further, farmers in IPM villages showed increased preference for relatively new insecticides (imidacloprid, acetamiprid, thiamethoxam, indoxacarb and spinosad) over the conventional group of chemicals. The adoption of IPM strategies resulted in significantly reduced pest incidence (32-75%), reduced plant protection and total input costs (17-34 and 15-21%, respectively) and an increase in net profit (54-88%) in addition to conservation of natural enemies (0.8-1.0 natural enemies/ plant in IPM over 0.4-0.7/ plant in non-IPM villages).