Presented as a Keynote Address at the 8th International Congress
of Plant Pathology,
Christchurch, New Zealand, 2 – 7 February 2003
Shrinkage of arable land due to an ever-increasing population
and the incidence of disease have become stumbling blocks in
improving agricultural production and, consequently rural prosperity.
This can be achieved by increasing productivity on one hand
and by avoiding losses from diseases and pests on the other.
In order to ensure sustainability, we have to aim for judicious
pesticide application and also rely upon integrated pest management,
biotechnology and organic farming. Establishment of organized
plant clinics independently or under an Agricultural Information
Technology Centre shall go a long way to identifying the problem
and adopting suitable measures on the recommendation of the
practitioner or consultant.
While development of well-proven, viable, socio-economically
acceptable technology would be a continuous process, more
importantly their speedy transfer must become a regular feature.
Suitable blends of traditional tools such as training, demonstration,
print and electronic-media with sophisticated computer-aided
technology can be employed for effective transfer of plant
pathology knowledge. Repeated dissemination of information
through different tools is thumb rule of extension. Satellite
channels, radio etc. must be employed to broadcast disease
forecast together with weather forecasts. Game and quiz shows
on plant protection must be frequently organized together
with other regular features related with plant protection.
Knowledge transfer and feed-back from farmers can be profitably
employed in protecting crops from the ravages of diseases
and augmenting agricultural production from limited land,
thereby ensuring rural prosperity as well as food security
to ever-growing population.
