On the 4th and 5th of February a meeting of IRAC India was held in Delhi. In addition to the members of the IRAC India team there was active participation from IRAC International, IRAC Asia and Croplife India. The goals of the workshop were to establish working priorities for IRAC India in both the short term and the long term, ensuring that prioritised insecticide resistance issues are being addressed and that IRAC India is providing key technical information to support the implementation of insecticide resistance management.
The IRAC India team agreed that development of supporting materials for resistance management in rice and cotton as well as specifically for the invasive pest fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) were the key priorities and therefore an action plan was developed. The inclusion of mode of action icons on product labels and development of effective communication pathways to growers and retailers were also identified as key priorities that the team will work upon.
On the second day the group were joined by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, the Farmers’ Federation, Indian Agricultural Research Institute and Central Institute for Cotton Research to gain further insights on how to support and communicate the implementation of insecticide resistance management.