Brassica IPM in Asia: successes, challenges, and opportunities

Brassicas comprise a major group of vegetable crops in Asian developing countries. Insect pests have been a serious threat to the sustainable production of brassica vegetables. This paper reviews the developments of brassica IPM in this region and discusses future trends. Although brassica IPM programs have achieved success in several localised areas, especially in highland areas of the tropics, future development and implementation of brassica IPM in Asian developing countries, such as China, face a number of technical, financial, educational, marketing/social and organisational constraints. On the other hand, consumers' aversion to pesticide residues, changes in cropping systems, increased support for research and extension, and a more favourable policy and legislative environment provide opportunities to achieve area-wide implementation of brassica IPM in the near future.