Traditional Practices in Agriculture FULL - ANGOC Site

create the imbalanced soil ecosystem. Therefore, it is very
important for disease prevention to remove the disturbing factors
(e.g. continuous cropping, use of agricultural chemicals, etc.) and
create a balanced soil ecosystem.
4.2 The Vicious Cycle of Chemical Pest Control
The present chemical agricultural practice utilizes chemical pest
control. The practice involves the following:
1. Use of chemical poisons which are harmful to all living things
2. Dealing with immediate problems (Symptomatic cure only)
3. No consideration of the root causes.
Insects
A quick generation cycle and the production of a huge number of
eggs at once is the characteristic of insects. This very characteristic
enables the insects to develop resistance to the chemical insecticide
quickly. So farmers are forced to use more pesticide or other
stronger pesticides to control the insects. But again, the new insect
generations become resistant to the pesticide. A second factor is
the disappearance of natural enemies (e.g. spiders, frogs, birds,
etc.), which eat the insects. The natural enemies are fewer in
number and have a slower generation cycle and therefore are less
productive than the insects. They cannot develop the same
resistance against chemical pesticide and consequently are killed
and disappear. The result is the creation of an imbalanced