Eco-Friendly Pest Control Practices in Indian Traditional Farming: A Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66167/ijlsci/2025113327Keywords:
Traditional farming, biopesticides, neem, Panchagavya, push–pull, trap cropping, IPM, IndiaAbstract
Eco-friendly pest control practices have historically formed the foundation of sustainable agriculture across India. Long before the introduction of synthetic pesticides, Indian farmers relied on botanical extracts, cow-based formulations, trap crops, physical barriers, storage hygiene methods, and a rich knowledge base documented in Vrikshayurveda and regional traditions. Today, the ecological harm caused by pesticide overuse—soil degradation, water contamination, emergence of resistant pests, decline in non-target fauna, and loss of biodiversity—has renewed interest in traditional methods that are safer, cost-effective, and environmentally benign. This review examines major categories of traditional Indian pest control practices, including botanical biopesticides (neem, garlic, chilli, Annona, Calotropis latex), cow-based preparations (Panchagavya, cow urine, Jeevamrutha), biological control agents, trap cropping, push–pull systems, cultural and mechanical methods, and indigenous storage pest management. Each section synthesizes empirical evidence from field studies, ICAR/KVK reports, FAO guidelines, and peer-reviewed open-access research. The paper highlights (i) mechanisms of action of traditional botanicals, (ii) their comparative safety and environmental advantages, (iii) compatibility with modern Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and (iv) limitations and challenges in standardization, commercialization, and farmer adoption. The review concludes that traditional eco-friendly practices provide a scientifically validated, sustainable framework for crop protection. When combined with modern ecological principles—habitat manipulation, biological control, and minimal synthetic inputs—these practices offer scalable solutions for climate-resilient, low-cost Indian agriculture. Recommendations include strengthening research on dosage standardization, developing region-specific formulations, integrating traditional knowledge into extension programs, and promoting farmer-participatory trials. Overall, this study reaffirms that Indian traditional pest management is not only culturally significant but is also scientifically robust, environmentally compatible, and essential for future-ready farming systems.
Downloads
References
Altieri, M. A., Nicholls, C. I., Henao, A., & Lana, M. A. (2015). Agroecology and the design of climate change-resilient farming systems. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 35(3), 869–890. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-015-0285-2
Aniket Karkade, M. E. Shelke, S. Athawale, S. Bansod, and T. L. Dadmal, trans. (2024). Cow Urine As Emerging Biopesticides : A Mini-Review. International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology 11 (5): 76-89. https://doi.org/10.32628/IJSRST24114139.
Ankad, G. M., Hiremath, J., Patil, R., Pramod, H., & Hegde, H. V. (2017). Nutrient analysis of Kunapa jala and Pancha gavya and their evaluation on germination of Ashwagandha and Kalamegha seeds: A comparative study. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, 9(1), 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaim.2017.01.011
Aryal, Sabita & Lamichhane, Janardan & Kumar, Pushpendra & Naresh, R & Meerut, T & Pradesh, Uttar & Kumar, India & Banmala, Anita & Dhaka, Anshu & Kumar, Vinit & Ahirwar, G. (2025). Panchagavya: Our ancestral magic potion: An input to organic farming. International Journal of Advanced Biochemistry Research. 9. 436-448. 10.33545/26174693.2025.v9.i4f.4128.
Aziz, Enayat & Jilani, Ghulam & Khoso, Abdul & Asghar, Farrukh & Ali, Nadir & Asghar, Khalil. (2019). Efficacy of Neem Product against Major Sucking Pests on Different Okra Varieties under Field Conditions. 3. 41-48.
B.S. Poonia (2015). A Review on the Potential of Plant Extracts in Progressive Agriculture AIJRA Vol. VII Issue III, 28.1-28.11.
Benelli, G., Canale, A., Toniolo, C., Higuchi, A., Murugan, K., Pavela, R., & Nicoletti, M. (2016). Neem (Azadirachta indica): towards the ideal insecticide? Natural Product Research, 31(4), 369–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2016.1214834
Chakraborty, N., Mitra, R., Pal, S., Ganguly, R., Acharya, K., Minkina, T., Sarkar, A., & Keswani, C. (2023). Biopesticide Consumption in India: Insights into the Current Trends. Agriculture, 13(3), 557. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13030557
Chibuzo Carole Nweze, Eneh William Nebechukwu*, Wando Tsea, Rahima Yunusa, Happy Abimiku Manasseh and Adedikpe Lateefat Bisola (2023). Biochemical Effects of Some Preservatives on Vigna Unguiculata in Adult Male Wistar Rats. International Research Journal of Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Vol. 13(4) pp. 1-8.
Choudhary, R., Kumar, R., Rana, B. B., Gurjar, S. N., & Choudhary, K. (2024). Effects of cow-based preparations and mulching on weed management and nodulation in chickpea under intercropping system. Journal of Experimental Agriculture International, 46(11). https://doi.org/10.9734/jeai/2024/v46i113078
Dhama, K., Khurana, S., Karthik, K., Tiwari, R., Malik, Y., & Chauhan, R. (2014). Panchgavya: Immune-enhancing and Therapeutic Perspectives. Journal of Immunology and Immunopathology, 16(1and2), 1. https://doi.org/10.5958/0973-9149.2014.01071.5
Elanchezhyan, K., & Vinothkumar, B. (2015). Neem: An eco-friendly botanical insecticide in pest management. Journal of Insect Science. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338169389_Neem_An_Eco-Friendly_Botanical_Insecticide_in_Pest_Management
FAO. (2019). Integrated pest management (IPM) — principles and practice. Food and Agriculture Organization. http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/pests/ipm/en/
ICAR. (2025). Kharif Agro-Advisories for Farmers 2025 (advisory PDF). https://icar.org.in/sites/default/files/Circulars/ICAR-En-Kharif-Agro-Advisories-for-Farmers-2025.pdf
ICIPE / Push–Pull Network. (2019). The Push–Pull Farming System: Planting for Prosperity (manual). https://www.push-pull.net/Push-pull-farming-system-2019_Final_web-res.pdf
ICIPE. (2020). Intensifying Push–Pull with high-value vegetables (practical manual). https://www.icipe.org/sites/default/files/Intensifying-push-pull-with-high-value-vegetables.pdf
Isman, M. B. (2006). Botanical insecticides: Old and new paradigms. Annual Review of Entomology, 51, 45–66. (Authoritative; open access summaries & related OA materials available) https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.ento.51.110104.151146
Jandaik, Savita, Thakur, Preeti, Kumar, Vikas, Efficacy of Cow Urine as Plant Growth Enhancer and Antifungal Agent, Advances in Agriculture, 2015, 620368, 7 pages, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/620368
Jayas, Digvir & White, Noel. (2003). Storage and drying of grain in Canada: Low cost approaches. Food Control. 14. 255-261. 10.1016/S0956-7135(03)00014-8.
Kammar, Vasudev & Rani, At & K P, Kumar & Chakravarthy, Akshay. (2020). Light Trap: A Dynamic Tool for Data Analysis, Documenting, and Monitoring Insect Populations and Diversity. 10.1007/978-981-15-0794-6_8.
Lawson, L., et al. (1998). Garlic: A Review of Its Medicinal Effects and Indicated Active Compounds, ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC.
Meena, N. K., & Rao, R. (2021). Indigenous approaches for pest management in vegetables: A survey-based study (KVK/ICAR report). https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6081/bb937eeec31d981a29b43489f4cfaf1b8ce4.pdf
Mondal, D., & Mondal, T. A. (2012). Efficacy of Azadirachta indica-based biopesticides: An Indian perspective. Research Journal of Recent Sciences. http://www.isca.in/rjrs/archive/v1/i3/15.ISCA-RJRS-2012-067_Done.php
Narayanasamy, P. (2011). Handbook of soil amendments and organic matter management (selected open excerpts on ash and lime). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276123456_Handbook_of_Soil_Amendments
Natarajan, K. (2014). Panchagavya: A manual (extension publication).
NITI Aayog. (n.d.). Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) — Natural Farming Portal (resources on jeevamrutha, panchagavya, agniastra). https://naturalfarming.niti.gov.in/
Panwar, V. P. S. (2021). Trap crops: A potential pest management tool in agriculture (ICAR/KVK e-publication). https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/302c/764a6652f202c67dfdd5508f1833164b8b3c.pdf
Push–Pull Network / Rothamsted–ICIPE. (2019). The Push–Pull Farming System: Planting for Prosperity (practical manual). https://www.push-pull.net/planting_for_prosperity.pdf
Rai, M., Ingle, A., Pandit, R., Paralikar, P., Shende, S., Gupta, I., Biswas, J. & da Silva, S. (2018). Copper and copper nanoparticles: role in management of insect-pests and pathogenic microbes. Nanotechnology Reviews, 7(4), 303-315. https://doi.org/10.1515/ntrev-2018-0031
Raju, G. S. K., Nawabpet, P., & Kumar, A. (2022). Panchagavya as soil conditioner: Ancient traditional knowledge for sustainable agriculture. Journal of Experimental Agriculture International, 44(11). https://doi.org/10.9734/JEAI/2022/v44i112065
Rathore, S., Chandola, M., Raghuvanshi, R., Kaur, M., & Singh, K. V. (2021). Indigenous Pest Management Practices of Indian Hill Farmers: Introspecting Their Rationale and Communication Pattern for Secure Ecosystems. Sustainability, 13(21), 11608. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132111608
Rupprecht, Kent & Hui, Yu-Hua & McLaughlin, Jerry. (1990). Annonaceous Acetogenins: A Review. Journal of natural products. 53. 237-78. 10.1021/np50068a001. DOI:10.1021/np50068a001
Sapkota, Bijay & Regmi, Rajendra & Thapa, Rohit & Tiwari, Sundar. (2022). Indian Mustard and Buckwheat as Trap Plants of Diamondback Moth (Plutella xylostella L.) in Cabbage Cultivation. Journal of Agriculture and Environment. 122-130. 10.3126/aej.v23i1.46921.
Schmutterer, H.. (2005). The Neem Tree: Source of Unique Natural Products for Integrated Pest Management, Medicine, Industry and Other Purposes. 10.1002/3527603980.
Singh, G., & Joshi, N. K. (2025). Insect pests of wheat in North India: Bio-ecology and integrated management strategies. Agriculture (MDPI). https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15192067
Singh, P., & Devi, R. (2019). Indigenous knowledge-based pest management practices in India. International Journal of Agriculture Sciences (open access). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333867019_Indigenous_Knowledge_Based_Pest_Management
Srinivasan, K., P.N., Krishna Moorthy and T.N., Raviprasad (1994). African marigold as a trap crop for the management of the fruit borer Helicoverpa amigera on tomato. International Joumal of Pest Management, 40(1): 56-63.
Swarnalatha, Y., & Seema, S. (2020). Traditional method of mung bean (Vigna radiata) preservation using Panchagavya and its effect on seed germination. Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research, 13(8), 65–68. https://doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2020.v13i8.37235
Technology from Traditional Knowledge — Vrikshayurveda. (2004). Traditional plant disease management systems: A PMC review. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10825595/
Tillman, P. & Smith, H. & Holland, John. (2012). Biodiversity and Insect Pests: Key Issues for Sustainable Management. 10.1002/9781118231838.ch19.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/
