CROP PROTECTION IN ANCIENT TIME WAS A
CONSEQUENCE OF ECOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT
G. K. Upawansa

   In modern conventional agriculture, crop protection assumes utmost importance because of ecological and environmental hazards and escalating crop losses; both have been the result of greedy exploitation of nature. Ironically for centuries indigenous agriculture had sustained a large population with surplus food without adhering to stringent crop protection measures . The evidence available indicates that crop protection had only been a consequence of ecological management, which also had propelled and given the momentum to sustainability of high production.

   The forest had replenished the nutrients lost in intensively cropped lands. The run off from forests rich in nutrients had been diverted to the paddy fields. The soil with nutrients washed down from rotationally agro-forested blocks of which big trees retained was trapped in reservoirs and sequentially used for pasture, fish and finally in paddy fields. This is an exemplary land use pattern integrating nutrients, moisture, soil conservation and cultural practices to maintain soil and fertility required for healthy crop growth.

   Establishment of common orchards, cultivating portions of rice fields for birds were intended to provide food during droughts and off-seasons to birds, nocturnal animals etc., the main biological control agent of pests. The mechanical methods and botanicals used during pests emergence reduced the number but never eliminated them. Often these methods were pest specific, encouraged, multiplicity and dispersion of insects, birds and reptiles fostering life and its balance. There are possibilities of simulating some and direct application of other methods for crop protection in the present context as well.

 
About the Author :-

G.K. UPAWANSA
"Sagara Biogad", Muruthalawa, Sri Lanka