Every year India loses 30% of its crops and Rs 60,000 Cr. annually due to pest attacks and diseases. Hence, pesticides play a vital role in protecting crops and ensuring their effective growth in Indian Agriculture. They also help the farmers to increase food productivity and quality. In 1965, when the Green Revolution was started in India by Shri M.S. Swaminathan, agricultural production increased up to 55 million tonnes in the initial stage and continued exponentially afterward. But, soon chemical pesticides, one of the developments of the Green Revolution started to impact the overall environment. 

The excessive use of chemical pesticides causes land degradation, and contamination of groundwater through runoff is dangerous for the host organism of the respective plant and can lead to a decline in the beneficial oil micro-organisms leading to a loss in soil fertility. They also play a role in contaminating the air and soil of the respective areas and pose harm to human health due to intake in some or other form. 

To prevent the damage caused by chemical pesticides, coming up with something organic was the need of the age. And, that’s where Biopesticides come into play. Biopesticides are organic pesticides or living organisms that are sprayed on crops to control pest damage. There are three kinds of biopesticides that we use currently.

1. Microbial Pesticides that contain microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoans, and algae. One example of these kinds of pesticides is the bacteria Bacillus Thruingiensis or Bt, which is used to control pests in cabbage, potatoes, and other crops by producing proteins that are harmful to insect pests. 

2. Plant Pesticides are substances that are made from the plant itself by the external genetic material embedded in the plant. Such as genetic materials of Bt bacterium embedded in another plant which produces substances to kill the pest. 

3. Biochemical pesticides are naturally occurring chemicals that can control pests through nontoxic mechanisms that interfere with the growth or reproduction of plants leading to repulsion or attraction of pests. 

Some of the commonly used biopesticides in India are :

1. Neem obtained from the neem tree is used in Tamil Nadu to save rice grains from pests by disturbing the reproductive and digestive systems of pests. 

2. Bacillus thuringiensis is obtained from strains of Kurstaki, Galleria, etc. which damage the gut of the pest by releasing toxins. 

3. Trichoderma is soil-borne fungi found mainly in decaying wood that alters the egg and damages the larvae of the pest saving the crop from the disease in the initial stage itself. They are mainly used for bollworms of cotton, fruits, vegetables, etc.

Biopesticides have numerous benefits such as it is environment friendly, having low toxicity levels, degrading quickly, maintaining excellent crop quality, and providing a  wide range of options for pesticides using microorganisms. Even after immense advantages on the environment, biopesticides make up only 5% of the Indian pesticide market. Hence, lets a step increase the market share of biopesticides and decrease the environmental pollutant levels caused by chemical pesticides. 

References:

[1]Gupta, Suman, and A. K. Dikshit. "Biopesticides: An ecofriendly approach for pest control." Journal of Biopesticides 3, no. Special Issue (2010): 186.

[2]“TNAU Agritech Portal :: Sustainable Agriculture,” n.d. https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/farm_enterprises/Farm%20enterprises_%20bio%20pesticides.html.

[3]Aktar, Wasim, Dwaipayan Sengupta, and Ashim Chowdhury. “Impact of Pesticides Use in Agriculture: Their Benefits and Hazards.” Interdisciplinary Toxicology. De Gruyter Open, March 1, 2009. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10102-009-0001-7.

[4]Kumar, Krishna, Jayavel Sridhar, Ramasamy Kanagaraj Murali-Baskaran, Sengottayan Senthil-Nathan, Pankaj Kaushal, Surendra K. Dara, and Steven Arthurs. “Microbial Biopesticides for Insect Pest Management in India: Current Status and Future Prospects.” Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. Elsevier BV, July 1, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2018.10.008.

[5]Drishti IAS. “Green Revolution,” n.d. https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/paper3/green-revolution-1.