Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest populations. It combines biological, chemical, physical, and crop-specific management strategies and practices to grow healthy crops minimize the use of pesticides, and reduce or minimize risks posed by pesticides to human health and the environment for sustainable pest management. It is a dynamic process that makes use of an ecological systems approach and has the following objectives:

• It promotes sustainable agriculture and seeks to increase farm productivity and food availability by reducing pre and post-harvesting losses.
• It seeks to reduce pesticide residues thus making food and water safe as it reduces the amount of pesticides used, which in turn, reduces residues in food, feed, and fiber and the environment.
• It seeks to maintain the national crop ecosystem balance, conserve the underlying natural resource base, and enhance ecosystem services.
• It seeks to reduce production costs through reduced levels of pesticide use and increase income levels as high-quality crops can command better prices in the market.
• It seeks to promote farmer stewardship by increasing farmers’ knowledge of ecosystem functioning best adapted to their local context.

Various components of IPM include:

• Monitoring: Keeping track of pests and their potential damage, which provides knowledge about current pests and crop situations and is helpful in selecting the best possible combinations of pest management methods
• Cultural pest control: It includes crop production practices that make crop environments less susceptible to pests. Crop rotation, cover crop, row and plant spacing, planting and harvesting dates, and destruction of old crop debris are a few examples.
• Mechanical control: These are based on the knowledge of pest behavior. Hand-picking, installation of bird perches, mulching, and installation of traps are a few examples in this regard.
• Biological control: These include augmentation and conservation of natural enemies of pests such as insect predators, parasitoids, pathogens, and weed feeders.
• Chemical control: Pesticides are applied only when the pest’s damaging capacity is nearing the threshold.

Indiscriminate and injudicious use of chemical pesticides in agriculture has resulted in several associated adverse effects, due to which the government of India has adopted IPM as a cardinal principle since 1985. As we approach the 21st century, there is an increasing demand for organically produced food and conservation of biodiversity. Further, an unpolluted environment is the need of the hour. In this regard, IPM, as a tool, can lead the future of sustainable agriculture.