Insect pest diversity of standing crops and traditional pest management in agricultural areas of Mandakini Valley, Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India

The mountain farming communities of the Garhwal Himalaya rely on a conventional approach to agriculture to meet their subsistence needs. The resilience of local crop varieties plays a significant role in crop productivity in the indigenous agricultural system. In such circumstances, the protection of the crop from insect pests becomes paramount. Traditional ecological knowledge plays a crucial role in safeguarding standing crops from production losses in an environmentally benign and sustainable manner. The investigators in this study have surveyed the Mandakini valley to document the indigenous practices undertaken by the farming folks to protect the crops from pest infestation in the region. These practices are discoursed here and, further, look into the potential of natural predators as bio-control. The findings indicated that pests from the order Coleoptera had the most species, followed by Lepidoptera and Hemiptera. Most of the pests in the study site were serious defoliators, damaging the young foliage of the crops. Some entirely fed upon their roots-stems, while the rest were leaf miners and sapsuckers, thus compromising the overall well-being of the plant. In a developing country like India, there is a lack of reliable data that sheds light on the annual crop losses incurred by these pests. Thus, it becomes pertinent to compute an overall estimate of crop losses at various stages of crop production, from seed storage to post-harvest times. Keywords— Crop loss, Insect pest, Mandakini Valley, Natural predators, Pest management.


INTRODUCTION
FAO/WHO (2014) has defined a pest as "any species, strain or biological type of plant, creature or pathogenic agent that damages plants or parts of them and incorporates vectors of parasites or pathogens of human and animal infections and creatures, causing a public health nuisance." Every year on June 6th, "World Pest Awareness Day" is observed to raise awareness about how pest management contributes to human well-being and their survival. Insects are the most ubiquitous, diverse, and abundant animal group on the planet. These small, versatile beings are the major contenders for food and other useful resources for humans that are produced in the course of farming (Oerke & Dehne 2004). The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has labelled 2020 as the "International Year of Plant Health," with the purpose of raising awareness about how plant health may aid in hunger prevention, poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and economic development. Plants constitute at least 80 percent of our nourishment, yet they are constantly threatened by pests and diseases (FAO 2019). Pests and diseases destroy up to 40% of the world's food crops each year. This incurs an annual agricultural trade loss of more than $220 billion, and results in hunger, and eventually interferes with rural income. It is reckoned that globally, food crops are harmed by over 10,000 insect species, 30,000 weed species, 100,000 diseases, and 1,000 nematode species (Dhaliwal et al. 2007).
The first systematic effort to assess crop losses due to different pests at a global level was accomplished by Cramer (1967), who projected total annual losses to be around 34% for major crops and vegetables. It was also specified explicitly that one-third of the total crop production worldwide is spoiled due to weeds, insects, and Smallholders and marginal farmers feed more than 2/3 rds of the population, but pests destroy at least 30%-40% of the food crops they grow. However, the resilience of local crop varieties plays a significant role in overall farm productivity and in such circumstances, crop protection from insect pests becomes paramount. Traditional ecological knowledge plays a crucial role in safeguarding standing crops from production losses in an environmentally benign and sustainable manner.
This investigation comprising insect pests of standing crops is a pioneer in the region. Earlier studies involving insect pests of stored grains were conducted and evaluated by research investigators in Rudraprayag district. More than 50% of insect mortality for stored wheat grains was demonstrated using smoke generated from neem leaves and cow dung burning, which is both costeffective and eco-friendly (Yadav & Tiwari 2018).
Cutworms, root weevils, moth and beetle larvae, fruit flies, fruit or shoot miners, plant hoppers, and mealy bugs are major defoliators, pod damagers, sap suckers, shoot borers, and root feeders that destroy crops from seedling to maturity (Plate 1). The mechanism for averting the pest population explosion is crop diversification in the agroecosystem . The motive behind the study is to get a quick overview of insects as major crop pests, examine their extent of damage to agricultural crops, review existing control measures, and describe potential natural predators as bio-control in the region. Scholars, scientists, researchers, and policymakers will benefit from the study since it sets the path for further investigation and development of a sustainable approach to protecting crops in mountain agro-biodiversity.

II. STUDY AREA
The research was conducted in the villages of the Mandakini valley, in the Rudraprayag district of the Garhwal region. These villages appear to occur in clusters or hamlets and lie between 1654-2029 metres, surrounded by forests. The detailed account of their geographical coordinates, area, population, and number of households as per census 2011 is specified below (Fig. 1).

Fig 1: Study sites of the Mandakini valley
Broadly, the seasons are divided into three, viz., summer (April-June), the monsoon (July-September), and winter (November-March). Summers are pleasantly mild while winters are generally cold and prolonged with snowfall. Rains are mostly confined to the rainy season and heavy downpours in the rainy season frequently cause landslides and soil erosion. The maximum monthly temperature in the area varies from around 19º C to 28º C. The vegetation is a temperate broad leaf type (moist deciduous/ evergreen/ mixed) with dominant species such as Quercus, Rhododendron, Pinus, Aesculus, Acer, Juglans, Thamnocalamus, Daphniphyllum, Prunus, Myrica, and others. Despite feasible climatic conditions, coarse, and well-drained acidic soil, the net yield is low. Farmers are unable to meet their food needs due to erratic weather, a lack of irrigation facilities, mono-cropping, non-laboratory soil testing, insect pest attacks, and crop raiding by wild animals. As a result, the majority of people rely on local

III. METHODOLOGY
Three years of research was conducted on the farms of three Gram Panchayats in the Mandakini valley, which included seven villages. Periodical monitoring of insects pests of farmland, homesteads, kitchen gardens, and poly houses was carried out during the pre and postmonsoon seasons from 2017 to 2019. In this study, a random household survey was conducted in each village using a semi-structured questionnaire set, key respondents, and keen observation to enumerate the area under crop cultivation, crop composition, cropping pattern, crop pests, and diseases of cultivated crops. Informal dialogues with knowledgeable family members, particularly women, who are actively involved in agricultural activities, were used to gather the information.
A few community-based discussions were also held, mostly about recent farming trends, insecticide/pesticide use, traditional knowledge, and future aspects of farming related to climate change. Sampling methods such as opportunistic sampling and aerial sampling via sweep netting, handpicking, and ground digging were done as per the study needs. Specimens were documented either through photography or sample collection, and dry pinned for further identification and research. The information acquired from natives was analyzed in order to investigate scientific rationality.

IV. RESULT
A total of 187 respondents were interviewed and data was recorded from each village in the Ukhimath block. Obtained data was compiled and analyzed ( Fig. 2 & Table  1). The residents of the Mandakini Valley were well aware of the insect pests present on their farmland, but they generally used traditional methods as control measures. Farmers used trap crops, cover crops, farmyard manure, and a mixture of salt-burnt fuel wood chullah ashes to thwart the advent of insect pest infestations on the standing crops.
Beetles are primarily crop pests of cereals, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, and stored grains (Patole 2017). The result exhibited major farm insects as pests, comprising 32 genera from 22 different families from the study area. Findings indicated that pests from the order Coleoptera (14 sp.) were the maximum in number, followed by Lepidoptera (07 species), Hemiptera (05 sp.), and Diptera (03 sp.) while Orthoptera, Thysanoptera, and Dermaptera contributed with single species respectively. Coleoptera (Beetles) were dominated by Chrysomelidae (05 sp.), Scarabaeidae (03), and Elateridae (02), while Nitidulidae, Meloidae, Brentoidae, and Curculionidae families each contributed a single species.Hemiptera (True bugs) have six families, including Coreidae (02 sp), Aphidae, Miridae, Pseudococcidae, Flatidae, and Pentatomidae, each with one sp. Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths) comes in second with four families of Noctuidae (04 species), while Erebidae, Sphingidae, and Papilionidae each have one species; Diptera has three families of Tipulidae, Psychodidae, and Tephritidae (one sp. each). A bar graph chart depicts a detailed account of these orders and families, along with the number of species (Fig. 2).

V. DISCUSSION
Indigenous farming systems use Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to control insect pest infestations, such as deep ploughing to expose eggs and larvae of pests, spreading completely decomposed Farm Yard Manure (FYM) on prepared land, dusting of salt-burnt fuelwood chullah ash, mixture of cow dung-urine on standing crops, and stubble burning to clear leftover residues after harvesting to get rid of the exposed pests beneath the soil Flea beetles can be deterred by several traps and companion plants (such as Basils, Beans, Brassica sp., Secale cereal, Zea mays, Cucurbits, Tagetes sp., Trifolium sp., wild Alliums, Mentha sp., Juglans sp.) that can be intercropped with the primary crop or planted at the periphery of cultivated land. The majority of insects provide direct or indirect benefits to humans (Peters 1993), either in the form of pollinators, insect predators or parasites of pests. The wildflower strip elevates farmland biodiversity, enhances foraging opportunities for various insect pests and pollinators, and also ensures improved productivity (Matthias et al. 2016). Thus, pest control and pollination services are complementary in nature and essential for the sustainability of the mountain agroecosystem.
Recently, the locust invasion of the Rabi crops in Pakistan and the Middle East led to a total crop failure, while in Africa, the situation was so grave that Somalia declared a national emergency. A similar onslaught occurred in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and western Uttar Pradesh, galloping several lakh hectares of Rabi crop. Every year, an unprecedented amount of stored food grains, vegetables, and standing crops are destroyed by the infliction of these pests. In a developing country like India, there is a lack of reliable data that sheds light on the annual crop losses incurred by these pests. Thus, it becomes pertinent to compute an overall estimate of crop losses at various stages of crop production, from seed storage to post-harvest times. Emphasis should be given to different eco-friendly methods, such as the use of natural enemies, predators, cultural practices, bio-control, insect-resistant varieties, and the use of scientifically proven transgenic crops (Plate 2). The dissemination of farmer-friendly information about pest management via different platforms, such as Kisan web portal, KVKs (Krishi Vigyan Kendras), Krishi melas, social media, newsletters, pamphlets, and so on, ensures rapid adoption by rural folks and averts crop damage. Therefore, it is imperative to prioritize our food security program to contend with our limited resources and rising population.

VI. CONCLUSION
A total of 35 insect pest individuals from seven orders with a total of 23 families were documented from the study area. Pests from the order Coleoptera (14 species) were found to be the highest in number, followed by Lepidoptera and Hemiptera (07 sp. each), and Diptera (03 sp.