ICT based pest surveillance and advisory services for Rice in Raison district of Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is knowledge intensive requires holistic approach, expert advice timely decision making and action on fast track. Needs of farmer in pest management revolves around pest diagnostics, surveillance, forecasting and dissemination of expert information in short time. Recent improvement form research brought considerable change in the cropping system and allowed farmer to grow several crops throughout the year, which were very seasonal in the past. IPM practitioners or farmers require timely access to the relevant pest management information/knowledge and expertise so to reduce the pesticide load to have better soil and human health. So the improved methods of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) such as Decision Support Systems (DSSs) greatly help the farmers in accessing the pest management information and expertise. DSSs are software tools that support decision-making activities. They collect, organize, integrate and analyze all types of information required for decision making and finally use the analysis to recommend the most appropriate action. One such ICT based pest surveillance and advisory services for rice in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh was initiated in active collaboration of M/s Agreeta and M/S Dawat Foods Private ltd wherein ICAR-NCIPM collaborated as consultant.