19^th European Organic Chemistry Congress

Crop Protection

Plant pests and diseases can wipe out farmers’ hard work and cause significant losses to yield and incomes, posing a major threat to food security. Globalization, trade, and climate change, as well as reduced resilience in production systems due to decades of agricultural intensification and biodiversity loss, have all played a part in the dramatic increase and spread of trans boundary plant pests and diseases. Pests and diseases can easily spread to several countries and reach epidemic proportions. Outbreaks and upsurges can cause huge losses to crop and pastures, threatening the livelihoods of farmers and the food and nutrition security of millions at a time.

Crop rotation means changing the type of crop grown on a particular piece of land from year to year. As used in this manual, the term includes both cyclical rotations, in which the same sequence of crops is repeated indefinitely on a field, and non-cyclical rotations, in which the sequence of crops varies irregularly to meet the evolving business and management goals of the farmer. Good crop rotation requires long-term strategic planning. Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar or different types of crops in the same area in sequenced seasons. It is done so that the soil of farms is not used for only one set of nutrients. It helps in reducing soil erosion and increases soil fertility and crop yield.