Introduction
Pest problem is one of the major constraints for achieving higher production in agriculture crops. India loses about
30% of its crops due to pests and diseases each year. The damage due to these is estimated to be Rs.60,000
crores annually. The use of pesticides in crop protection has certainly contributed for minimising yield losses. The
pesticides, which are needed to be applied carefully, only when the threshold limits of the pest population is
exceeded. However, quite often the indiscriminate and unscientific use of pesticides has led to many problems,
such as pests developing resistance, resurgence of once minor pest into a major problem besides environmental
and food safety hazards.
