History of Pest Control

Pests have always been the cause of disturbance and annoyance to mankind with the beginning of agriculture in 8000 (B.C.).Mainly, crops were destroyed by insects and there were no effective measures which ensured their termination. However, the first record of the use of sulphur compounds used as insecticide was found in 2500 B.C, which was used by the Sumerians. Chemical pesticides were only used after the World War II and became an important part of modern agriculture. By using new and improved pesticides and agrochemicals during the green revolution, a huge productivity increase was found in agricultural yield.

However, the disadvantage of using chemical pesticide on agriculture were greatly discussed in a book publish by Rachel Carson, in the year 1962. Many suggestions were given by Carson and others to control pests by using other methods rather than chemicals ants in order to protect wildlife, environment and human lives. The government also passed regulations on the control of heavy chemical sprays on agriculture in many countries. Since the use of heavy pesticides were causing many problems in agriculture, the idea of integrated control was introduced which was mainly the integration of chemical and biological control of pests. The benefit of integrated control was that with the use of both biological and chemical methods, controlling pests would be more effective rather than using either one of them alone.

In 1961, Pest management was introduced which was aimed to mainly understand different kinds of pests that reside in our surroundings and what effects the various pest control methods have on the environment. However, Pest management did not propose that both chemical and biological pest control methods were always the best option. In 1969, the concept of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) was brought forward by the US Academy of Sciences, which is a combination of all the previous pest control methods.

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