Several big agro-industrial houses have joined hands with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to promote the integrated pest management (IPM) technology. IPM technology helps to increase crop production with minimum application of pesticides.
The objective of the Rs 3.6-crore project is to transfer the available IPM technology to the farmers and, in the process, ascertain the effectiveness of the environment friendly practices in increasing production at reduced costs.
The industrial houses collaborating in the programme being implemented under the National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP) include Biotech International, Dhanuka Group, Excel Industries, Monsanto and Syngenta India. However, their support is mainly in the form of expertise and material and not cash funding. The National Centre for IPM (NCIPM) of the ICAR and the state agricultural universities are the main implementing agencies.
NCIPM director America Singh said the IPM technology had helped reduce the number of pesticides sprays on the irrigated cotton from around 20 to merely 8-10 in Punjab and Haryana. Similarly, in the case of chickpea (gram), a good crop could be raised by spraying pesticides only three times, instead of the normal six to eight times, he said.