10 - Pest and Disease Management in Organic Farming

Summary

A fear psychosis prevails among the cultivators about the threat of pest and disease to crops. This is again one of the outcomes of the technologies used during the Green Revolution. Citing the incidence of severe outbreak of pest and disease on some crops at various places, the pesticide dealers pushed their products wherever the seeds and fertilisers were sold. Instead of need based application, calendar based applications were recommended. As the pesticide load increased in the cropping system, more and more non-pests became pests since the biological balance in the ecosystem was upset. These pests developed resistance to pesticides and became persistent, while some other pests lost their natural enemies. Farmers resorted to all sorts of ‘cocktail’ pesticide application. Hence, the natural enemy complex was eliminated.

It is a natural phenomenon that every living being, plant or animal, is surrounded by other living beings. They co-exist, sharing the natural resources, and living according to the weather conditions. The weak perish and the strong live longer and perpetuate their progeny. No one is considered as an enemy of the other. One serves the other as food or shelter. Thus, equilibrium is maintained in the natural ecosystem. If this equilibrium is disturbed either by natural calamity or by man-made events, biological imbalance occurs, harming some and benefitting others.