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Box 4.3 Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

IPM encourages first pest prevention through adequate crop and livestock management practices. In cropping systems, it promotes crop diversification through spatial diversity (e.g. intercropping) and temporal diversity (e.g. longer crop rotations) to break pest and disease cycles. Improved tillage practices and avoidance of soil compaction can reduce erosion and support healthy soils, increasing chemical breakdown before leaching and runoff into surface water and groundwater bodies. Preserving and supporting important beneficial organisms fighting pests and diseases, but not damaging crops or livestock, are encouraged, as is the development of more resistant seed and crop varieties and animal breeds. In livestock systems, appropriate hygiene and housing can reduce risks, as well as lower livestock densities. Crop and livestock management should be complemented by an efficient monitoring of pest and disease development. Biological methods together with physical handling should first be used, and, when necessary, suitable chemical methods may be adopted to protect crops and livestock. 

Sources: Meissle et al., 2009; Lamichhane et al., 2015; FAO, 2018a