Participatory technology validation for integrated management of insect pest and diseases in kharif and rabi pulses in the Bundelkhand region of India

Study was conducted in the three purposively selected villages namely Helapur, Kalauli Tir and Amirta in the Hamirpur district of Bundelkhand region during 2002–06. Agro-ecosystem Analysis and diagnostic survey were done by utilizing topical/focussed Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques. Participatory planning was utilized to identify and prioritize the consensus based problems related to incidence of diseases and insect-pest in kharif and rabi pulses. Accordingly, interventions for integrated management in insect-pest and diseases of pulses were designed, implemented and evaluated as per farmers’ reflections. Findings of the study confirmed that one spray of 5% NSKE + one spray of Endosulphan (0.07%) reduced the damage of pod borer by 58 and 90 per cent in pigeonpea and chickpea, respectively. Similarly, results of participatory intervention on integrated disease management revealed that seed treatment with Vitavax along with Trichoderma harzianum was helpful in giving highest yield and net return besides effectively controlling the wilt incidence (34–36%) over no seed treatment in both the crops.