Report on the Training on Integrated Pest Management A one-day training on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) was organized by Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Karur on 18.11.14 to orient farmers, farm women, rural youth and Secretaries of Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies on the technologies related to Integrated Pest Management. The programme was organized keeping in mind the need for judicious use of pesticides under the context of the hazards connected with the overuse of chemical pesticides. In the special address by Officials, the Assistant Director of Horticulture, Karur Mr Muniyandi shared about his experience in the management of Papaya mealybug on Tapioca using the introduced parasitoid. He also briefed about the various schemes operated by the Government for horticultural crops and motivated the farmers to contact the block level officials of the Department for any assistance. Mr A. Parthiban, NABARD Assistant General Manager (District Development) in his special address encouraged the farmers to adopt IPM measures for safeguarding the environment. The Lead District Manager Mr S.M Murugesan in his address sensitized the farmers to be prompt in the repayment of loans so as to get the maximum service from banks. The Indian Overseas Bank Rural Self Employment Training Institute Director Mrs Dhamayanthi briefed about the various training programmes orgranized by their Institute and the success rate of the trainees. In the technical session, Dr. D. Dinakaran, Professor (Plant Pathology), Horticultural College and Research Institute for Women, Trichy, elaborated about the various types of diseases that affect crops, their symptoms of damage, the conducive environment that leads to disease incidence, the damage potential and the various control measures such as cultural, mechanical, use of resistant cultivars, biological and chemical methods. He also clarified the queries of farmers on disease management. He also informed that the biological antagonists such as Trichoderma and Pseudomonas are produced in the TNAU, Department of Agriculture and other private agencies. The Programme Coordinator Dr.J. Diraviam in his technical session explained about the hazards of the indiscriminate use of pesticides, which has resulted in the poor health condition of the farmers and the consumers due to residual toxicity of the pesticides in food products. He also highlighted that the most poisonous pesticides were originally developed during the World War II as chemical weapons. He also explained about the concept of IPM, need for IPM, various methods available for pest management such as cultural, mechanical, regulatory, biological, botanical and chemical methods. He further informed about the different categories of chemical pesticides depending on their toxicity and advised the farmers to use the less toxic pesticides as a last resort. The Pest Control India Officer Mr R. Baskar explained about the traps and other ecofriendly biopesticides produced by their organization. The SAFS Organic Enterprises officer Mr M. Abdul Kadhar explained about the features of the Solar Light trap developed by their organization. The Progressive farmer and producer of Trichogramma egg parasitoids, Mr

Chinnasamy, Kulathupalayam, Karur district, shared his experiences on the use of egg parasitoids for the control of caterpillar pests. The Companies had also displayed and demonstrated their ecofriendly biocontrol agents to the farmers. Totally about 120 participants participated in the training programme.. The programme was organized by the KVK team with the support of NABARD and the Companies. Photogallery