Dr Poonam Batra
The International Day of Plant Health, celebrated annually each year on May 12, emphasizes the indispensable role of healthy plants in sustaining life on Earth. As primary producers in terrestrial ecosystems, plants are essential to ensuring global food security, maintaining biodiversity, supporting ecosystem services, and enhancing climate resilience. However, the stability of plant health is increasingly threatened by multifactorial pressures including climate change, increased international trade, intensified agricultural practices, and a decline in agroecological diversity.
Understanding One Health Strategy
One Health Strategy involves collaborative efforts across multiple disciplines to achieve optimal health outcomes for plants, animals, humans, and the environment. This includes integrating plant health management practices with broader health initiatives to tackle issues such as pests, diseases, and climate change impacts.
Understanding IPM: A Science-Based Framework
One of the most effective frameworks for addressing these challenges is Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a multidisciplinary, ecologically based strategy that employs a combination of biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical tools to manage pest populations at economically and ecologically acceptable levels (FAO, 2020). IPM is grounded in threshold-based decision-making, ecosystem-level understanding, and biological interactions, and it represents a cornerstone of sustainable plant health systems.
IPM and the One Health Connection
The One Health concept, endorsed by WHO, FAO, and OIE, underscores the linkage between environmental integrity, human health, and animal health. In this context, IPM supports One Health through the following mechanisms:
- Protecting plant health: By keeping pest populations below damaging levels while minimizing ecosystem disruption.
- Reducing pesticide exposure: Limiting human health risks associated with overuse of synthetic agrochemicals.
- Preserving beneficial organisms: Including pollinators, parasitoids, and soil microbes critical to agroecosystem services.
- Preventing pesticide resistance: Through rotational strategies and integration of biologicals, IPM delays the onset of resistance in pest populations.
- Promoting biodiversity: Contributing to climate-resilient agricultural systems by promoting biodiversity and enhancing agroecosystem stability
- Minimizing pesticide residue: Minimizing pesticide residues in food and water, reducing chronic exposure risks for humans and animals
Moreover, IPM promotes site-specific decision-making using tools such as economic injury levels (EILs) and economic threshold levels (ETLs), ensuring interventions are data-driven and not prophylactic. This aligns with principles of precision agriculture and resource-use efficiency, both critical to meeting the goals of climate-smart agriculture and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—particularly SDGs 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and 15 (Life on Land).
Scientific Evidence and Global Relevance
Empirical research has demonstrated that IPM can reduce pesticide usage by 30–70% without compromising yields (Pretty & Bharucha, 2015; Pimentel & Burgess, 2014). In countries like India, Vietnam, and Kenya, IPM-based programs in rice, cotton, and vegetable crops have resulted in improved farmer income, reduced environmental load, and strengthened resilience to climate shocks. (Dhawan et al., 2019). IPM also plays a vital role in achieving several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12), and Life on Land (SDG 15).
Furthermore, the integration of biopesticides, pheromone-based trapping, crop diversification, and digital pest surveillance within IPM frameworks illustrates the adaptability and innovation capacity of IPM as a dynamic scientific discipline.
Conclusion
In an era marked by increasing biotic stress, ecological fragility, and climate unpredictability, strengthening plant health through Integrated Pest Management is both a scientific necessity and a policy imperative. IPM exemplifies the One Health approach in action, providing a multidimensional response to complex plant protection challenges. It ensures that pest management practices are not only economically viable and ecologically sustainable but also aligned with broader goals of public and environmental health. A reinvigorated focus on IPM research, capacity-building, and institutional support is urgently needed to mainstream this science-led approach in agricultural development agendas globally.
By integrating plant health management with broader health initiatives, we can address the systemic challenges faced by farmers and contribute to a healthier, more resilient agricultural ecosystem. The goal is to create scalable, data-driven solutions that have a lasting impact on rural and agricultural communities, ensuring food security and promoting overall well-being.
References
- FAO (2020). Integrated Pest Management. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://www.fao.org/in-action/integrated-pest-management
- Pretty, J., & Bharucha, Z.P. (2015). Integrated Pest Management for Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture in Asia and Africa. Insects, 6(1), 152–182. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects6010152
- Pimentel, D., & Burgess, M. (2014). Environmental and Economic Costs of the Application of Pesticides Primarily in the United States. Integrated Pest Management, 47–71. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7796-5_4
- Dhawan, A.K., Kranthi, K.R., & Sardana, H.R. (2019). IPM in Indian Agriculture: Status and Future Directions. Journal of Biological Control, 33(4), 263–274.
