This is NPM
Environmental pollution is not the only problem with pesticides. Pests develop resistance to synthetic pesticides, making it necessary to constantly develop newer and more powerful (hence more costly) pesticides. What's worse, pesticides are more damaging to friendly insects and natural predators of pests; pesticide use strengthens pests. This vicious cycle is called the pesticide treadmill. Integrated pest management (IPM) combines several approaches including pesticides. It strives to prevent or delay resistance.
Non-pesticidal management (NPM)uses techniques developed and proven under IPM, but completely does away with synthetic pesticides. So, how does it protect crops? In two ways: by promoting the sharing of know-how on crops and pests; and by utilising locally available, low-cost inputs.
Insects have a four-stage life cycle, and they damage crops only in the larval stage in most cases. Effective control is that which prevents the insect reaching the larval stage. There is a range of options to do this, depending on insect behavior and crop ecology:
• Deep ploughing in summer exposes pupa of insects
• Promoting natural predators and friendly insects
• Light traps or bonfires attract and kill adult insects
• Trap crops (like marigold or castor in cotton) attract bollworms to lay eggs on them instead of the main crop
• Pheromone traps attract male insects
• Simple shaking of plants like pigeonpea helps shed bollworms
• Spraying the extract of neem seed kernel (or chilli-garlic paste) helps control insects at larval stage
• Spraying the extract of cow dung and urine repels insects as well as retards their growth
All these methods have been validated and accepted by the scientific community under IPM. Indian agriculture scientists commonly believe that farmers cannot understand these