Optimal Pest Control Strategies with Cost-effectiveness Analysis

Abstract

Pest and plant diseases cause damages and economic losses, threatening food security and ecosystem services. Thus, proper pest management is indispensable to mitigate the risk of losses. The risk of environmental hazards induced by toxic chemicals alongside the rapid development of chemical resistance by insects entails more resilient, sustainable, and ecologically sound approaches to chemical methods of control. This study evaluates the application of three dynamical measures of controls, namely, green insecticide, mating disruption, and the removal of infected plants, in controlling pest insects. A model was built to describe the interaction between plants and insects as well as the circulation of the pathogen. Optimal control measures are sought in such a way they maximize the healthy plant density jointly with the pests’ density under the lowest possible control efforts. Our simulation study shows that all strategies succeed in controlling the insects. However, a cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that a strategy with two measures of green insecticide and plant removal is the most cost-effective, followed by one which applies all control measures. The best strategy projects the decrease of potential loss from 65.36% to 6.12%.

Pengaruh Pertahanan Tanaman Dalam Pengusiran Hama Pada Model Penanggulangan Hama Tanaman Terpadu

“…Terlihat bahwa pada lingkungan yang terdiri dari tanaman padi dan wereng coklat sebagai hama, pelepasan wereng steril dan kumbang kepik sebagai musuh alami dapat menurunkan kepadatan hama sehingga meningkatkan biomassa tanaman. Dalam [4], dipelajari tentang strategi penanganan hama terpadu dengan memberikan kontrol dinamis pada model hama terpadu.…”