Contents - Faperta

2 Biotechnological Approaches for Pest Management and Ecological Sustainability
Million tonnes/kg per head
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Grain production has shown a remarkable increase from 1950 to 1980, but only a marginal
increase was recorded from 1980 onwards (Figure 1.1). Thereafter, the grain production
has remained almost static. The rate of increase in food production decreased to 1% per
annum in the 1990s as compared to a 3% increase in the 1970s. After the mid-1980s, there
has been a slow and steady decline in per-capita availability of food grains (Dyson, 1999).
By 2010, the number of people facing malnutrition will be 30% in Sub-Saharan Africa, 10%
in West Asia and North Africa, 6% in East Asia, 12% in South Asia, and 7% in Latin America.
As land and water are diminishing resources, there is no option than to increase crop productivity
per unit area. There is a need to examine how science can be used to raise biological
productivity without the associated ecological costs. Some of this increase in crop
productivity can be achieved through the application of modern tools of biotechnology in
integrated gene management, integrated pest management, and effi cient postharvest management.
Biotechnological approaches in agriculture and medicine can provide a powerful
tool to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of the rural poor (Sharma et al., 2002).
Pest-Associated Crop Losses and the Need for Pest Management
One of the practical means of increasing crop production is to minimize the pest- associated
losses (Sharma and Veerbhadra Rao, 1995), currently estimated at 14% of the total agricultural
production (Oerke, 2006). There are additional costs in the form of pesticides applied
for pest control, valued at $10 billion annually. Insect pests, diseases, and weeds cause an
estimated loss of US$243.4 billion in eight major fi eld crops out of total attainable production
of US$568.7 billion worldwide. Among these, insects cause an estimated loss of US$90.4
billion, diseases US$76.8 billion, and weeds US$64.0 billion. The actual losses have been
estimated at 51% in rice, 37% in wheat, 38% in maize, 41% in potato, 38% in cotton, 32% in
soybeans, 32% in barley, and 29% in coffee (Figure 1.2). Massive application of pesticides to
minimize the losses due to insect pests, diseases, and weeds has resulted in adverse effects
to the benefi cial organisms, pesticide residues in the food and food products, and environmental
pollution. As a result, the chemical control of insect pests is under increasing pressure.
This has necessitated the use of target specifi c compounds with low persistence, and
an increase in emphasis on integrated pest management (IPM). Although the benefi ts to
agriculture from pesticide use to prevent insect-associated losses cannot be overlooked,
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Total grain production (t) Per-capita availability (kg)
FIGURE 1.1 Grain production and per capita availability of grain between 1950 to 1990.
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