National Meeting on Agricultural Entomology for the 21 Century: The Way Forward Inaugurated

Bangalore, 25 August, 2011

Dr S Ayyappan, Secretary, DARE and Director General, ICAR inaugurated a two-day National Meeting on Agricultural Entomology for the 21 Century: The Way Forward at National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects (NBAII) here today.

While speaking as Chief Guest, Dr Ayyappan emphasized the important role of Entomology in sustaining and strengthening food security in the country. Realizing the importance of research on insect pests, ICAR upgraded the Project Directorate of Biological Control to NBAII recently with renewed thrust and emphasis on emerging threats and challenges. Insect pests account for nearly 18% of crop losses which is significantly higher considering the constraints we are facing in feeding the burgeoning population, he added. Hence, appropriate and eco-friendly strategies need to be developed on priority basis. Recipes of pest management may adopt latest approaches in view of impeding danger of climate change. Dr Ayyappan emphasized upon the institutional collaboration between the ICAR institutes for capacity building in this important area of research. Multiplication and distribution of parasitoids may be taken up by KVKs across the country, he suggested.

Dr Swapan Kumar Dutta, Deputy Director General (Crop Science), ICAR suggested to adopt a holistic approach to tackle insect pest problem and emphasized on strengthening of diagnostic services and development of stable formulation of pesticides. The development and use of bio-pesticides, nano-pesticides and molecular tools may be encouraged to manage the insect pest problems effectively, he added.

The National Meeting is a brain storming exercise to identify the crucial areas for frontier research in entomology during forthcoming Xll Plan. There is a need to take stock of the existing scenario, identify the missing links and plan for the future to meet the challenges in Agricultural Entomology and related disciplines.

Vice-Chancellors of the Agricultural Universities, distinguished experts and scientists emphasized the need of effective pest management by integrating various modern approaches and institutional support. Nearly 250 delegates from across the National Agricultural Research System are participating in the National Meet.

Earlier, Chief Guest released noteworthy publications and honored renowned veteran scientists for their distinguished contributions in the field.

(Source: NAIP Sub-Project on Mass Media Mobilization, DKMA)