Why disease and pest forecasting for crop cultivation is needed?
Since time immemorial, farmers/growers have been adopting cultivation practices according to guesstimate, which often results in the excess and non-judicious use of the pesticide, which have multiplier adverse effect on the farmers/growers net income. For example: A grape grower on a conservative estimate sprays 18 times per acre @ Rs1000/- per spray for a disease without knowing its incidence or severity. The same farmer, if follows the pest and disease forecasting advice has to spray only 11 times, thus lessening its input cost in cultivation. Moreover, more the crop is sprayed more will be risk of pesticide residue, which is harmful for human consumption, and ultimately fetch less prices or more often rejection of their produce in International market.
