Modern-day farming experiences immense pressure to provide the necessary food resources demanded by the growing populace. This pressure has ignited renewed attention to agricultural practices that promote food production in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.
However, farmers are challenged by climate change, which not only has a major impact on the success of crop production but also influences the management of agricultural pests. Increasing temperatures directly affect a pest’s ability to reproduce, survive, spread and establish. While chemical control may have been a farmer’s first response in the past, insecticide resistance has led farmers to shift to more holistic farming practices, better known as integrated pest management (IPM).
WHAT IS INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT?
IPM is an environmentally friendly approach to pest management. The concept is often misunderstood as a simple combination of different pest control strategies but it is much more complex since it is knowledge-intensive and an understanding is needed of the effects of prevention decisions on subsequent control measures,
