Production of safe food, protection of environment, doubling farmers’ income and enhancing exports are our national priorities in agriculture. Agricultural production is often challenged by insects, diseases, weeds, nematodes and vertebrates affecting food, livelihood, and socio-economic and environmental security. Pest problems emerge and undergo spatio-temporal changes due to climate change, invasion, changing production practices, increased virulence, resistance, resurgence and secondary outbreak through ecological adaptations and evolution. While loss of crop yield and quality of produce are direct effect of pests at farm level, indirect losses through toxic contaminations of produce during production, storage, ripening or transit have socio-economic-environmental implications affecting both farmers and consumers, and all ecosystem services including organisms in the food web and pollinators. Judicious use of pesticides is...

---