Endosulfan takes the benefit of natural enemies of pests in pest control and help reduce potential pesticide pollution in the environment.

Reducing pesticide pollution in the environmental through ICM 

Shree Vivekanand Research and Training Institute (VRTI), Mandvi, Kutch, Gujarat. 370 465 (E.mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

The Indian agriculture is at cross-roads. While many people involved in development still advocate continuing with Chemical agriculture, a sizable group advocates going totally for Organic agriculture. Each group has valid reasons for its advocacy. In this dubious situation, the most affected people are the farmers who are not only confused but also greatly affected for their sustenance. No one is trying to solve their problems objectively and build a system that will be long lasting and sustainable both for farmers and the nation. 

While the public is interested in quality food without chemical residues, farmers are struggling for getting sustainable crop yields at a reduced cost. We can achieve both these objectives provided we go about sensibly and practically in achieving what is possible in reality rather than just spreading the hype of about “Chemical Vs Organic agriculture”. 

I give here an example of reducing the pesticide pollution. We started with Integrated Crop Management (ICM), a system intermediate between the chemical and organic agriculture, and we found that it worked in the interest of both the farmers and the public. It showed us the way, as to how we should proceed to tackle the problems of agriculture both for a short and long run.

Pesticides, the chemicals used for controlling pests, contribute much to polluting the environment. Their use in agriculture, which by far is the most dominant, affects not only man and animals but also all the natural flora and fauna including beneficial organisms that get exposed to these chemicals. Among the beneficial organisms, the natural enemies of pests, that is, the parasites, predators and pathogens, that often contribute to more than 50% to controlling pests in many crop ecosystems, get severely affected.

Rather these beneficial become the first casualty of chemical control even before the pest; as they are host dependent and multiply at relatively slower rate. In fact, this is one of the reasons of the increased used of pesticides in agriculture over years, besides the pest developing resistance to pesticides. 

Is there any way to get the benefits of both the natural enemies of pests and pesticide chemicals for attaining a reasonably good pest control at a reduced cost and reduced environmental pollution ? Certainly, there is a way but its needs to be understood and followed appropriately.

Integrated Crop Management (ICM) inclusive of Integrated Pest Management (IPM)Program is the answer. It takes into consideration proper crop husbandry and crop protection to ensure better crop yields at a lesser cost.

In ICM/IPM, the pest management program uses a right pesticide at a right time so that the simultaneous benefit of natural enemies to check the pest is not affected much. In IPM, initial sprays of pesticides like Azadarchtin, Endosulfan, that are relatively safer to. 

Natural enemies, are used. Endosulfan is also used mixed with other pesticide chemical at a later stage to break insect resistance to pesticides; high levels of which is recorded for a pyrethoid, organophosphate and carbamate chemicals. 

The data on pesticides used in trials for comparing ICM packages with local packages for growing cotton in different states of India during 1999-2000 are shown in Figure 1 in terms of calculated pesticide pollution in cotton ecosystem.

It is seen that ICM/IPM, which advocates rationalizing the use of pesticides while properly checking their types, doses, timing and ways of application used, can greatly reduce pesticide pollution in crop environment. This is of great significance as it has a direct effect on the conservation and augmentation of natural enemies of pests in crop ecosystems and on the degree of environmental pollution.

In principle, ICM advocates avoiding the use of red label chemicals (WHO: Category I ) and moving on to green label ones (Category IV). In general, for mammals a green label chemical is 1000 times less toxic than a red label chemical, 100 times less toxic than a yellow label and 10 times less toxic than a blue label chemical. Thus judicious selection and use of pesticide chemicals for pest control is the first step in reducing the environmental pollution; and this can be achieved through ICM.

Setting an ultimate goal for agriculture – say progressive, sustainable and regenerative agriculture and working step-by-step towards it is the best way to serve farmers, public and humanity at large, rather than getting entangled in the hypes of chemical or organic agriculture.

Reduction in pesticide pollution in cotton ecosystem with ICM as against the local system of cotton cultivation (derived from the data of N = 185 trials conducted in 
five major cotton growing states of India, VRTI/EXCEL, 1999-2000.)

A pesticide pollution unit (PPU) is an unit representing average toxicity of the active ingredient (A. I.) unit of a pesticide of the category IV. PPUs for pesticides of different categories I-IV are obtained by multiplying their A. I. units used with factors 1000, 100, 10, and 1 respectively, with a pesticide of category IV representing the least and of category I the highest pollution potential.