Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of pest control

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Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of pest control

In the world today there is an ever increasing desire to increase agricultural efficiency in terms of producing maximum yields of crops and produce. Maximum output levels cannot be reached if pests are consistently destroying crops and this affects both the producer and the consumer. Consequently different methods of exterminating and reducing pest numbers have been developed in the forms of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, which can be categorised under the general; heading pesticides.  

One effective way of protecting crops is the use of chemical pesticides, which are designed to control, repel or kill various pests or weeds which are potentially harmful to the plant. The most popular pesticide in developed countries is the herbicide, which are utilised as a means of destroying weeds which are native plants growing in cultivated soil and compete interspecifically with a crop plant for key resources such as light, water and minerals. Herbicides reduce the interspecific competition between the crop and the weed.

A significant disadvantage of pesticides is that they are often poisonous. Farmers must therefore take care not to overuse chemical pesticides as they can have serious effects on non-target organisms including people, such as the farmer applying the pesticide or the consumer who will encounter the pesticide residues that are left on a crop plant. Other effects on target organisms may include insects such as bees or other natural predators of a pest insect may be killed by an insecticide. Fungicides may kill beneficial soil fungi and herbicides sprayed onto crops may come into contact with non-cultivated vegetation.  These effects may disrupt food chains and webs in ecosystems

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Another severe disadvantage of pesticides is their effect on the environment.  A severe consequence of using pesticides is a side effect known as ‘resurgence’. This is when the natural control of the pests is tampered with and disrupted due to the pesticides killing not only the pests but the pest’s predators too. The pests and their predators are temporarily eradicated and when the pests begin to increase in numbers there are insufficient predators to deal with them meaning the pests are allowed to severely increase in numbers which has an undeniably worse effect on the environment than if the ...

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