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Success stories in biological control: Lessons learnt

Globally, several success stories have been documented on classical, augmentative and conservation biological control strategies for managing insect pests and weeds. India too has had its share of successes in the field of biological control. Some examples include the management of the papaya mealy bug through classical biological control, suppression of the sugarcane woolly aphid through conservation biological control, and management of rice pests through augmentation biological control. However, it is a sad state of affairs that biocontrol practices have not been either universally accepted or optimally utilised as per the expectations. There are several hurdles to the uptake of biological control, which include unwieldy regulatory procedures to be followed for international exchange of biocontrol agents and registration of microbial biopesticides; hesitation amongst the commercial units to take up production of biocontrol agents (macrobials and microbials) and lack of active interactions between biocontrol researchers and all other stake-holders including farmers, public, extension workers, regulators and politicians. In this paper, an attempt has been made to compile information on some of the significant success stories in the field of biological control. Based on the lessons learnt from the older biological control success stories, proactive steps have been taken in India to tackle some of the recent invasive pests. The need of the hour is for biocontrol researchers and practitioners to network with economists, social scientists and other relevant stakeholders so that the social, economic and financial value of biological control (primarily based on the success stories) can be clearly defined and accurately quantified and communicated to farmers, commercial units and policymakers, which can lead to increased uptake of this sustainable method of pest management.