Integrated pest management (IPM)

It is a comprehensive approach to pest manipulation that uses a combined means to reduce the status of pests to a tolerable level while maintaining a quality environment. IPM emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms. It is an environmentally friendly, economically viable, and socially just approach to pest management.

According to Smith and Reynolds (1966), “Integrated pest management is a pest population management system that utilizes all suitable techniques in a compatible manner to reduce pest populations and maintain them at levels below those causing economic injury.”

Integrated:

Integrated focus on interactions of pests, crops, control methods, and the environment rather than on individual weeds, insects, or diseases. This approach considers all available tactics and how they fit in with other agricultural practices.

Pest:

Pest is a species that conflicts with our profit, health, or convenience. If a species does not exist in numbers that seriously affect these factors, it is not considered a pest.

Management:

It is a way to keep pests below the levels where they can cause economic damage. Management does not mean eradicating pests. It means finding tactics that are both effective and economical and that keep environmental damage to a minimum.