Food Production: The Challenge for Pesticides

food is lost to pests and that in rice, the most important of all human foods, this loss is a staggering 46%. The 33% loss represents the potential to increase our food supply by 50% if pest losses could be eliminated. Underscoring this is the fact that losses are highest in those regions of the world where the human population is greatest in relation to the food resource (Table 2). Add to the losses estimated by Cramer (1967) due to insects, diseases, and weeds, the depradation of birds, rodents, and other pests, and it is clearuthat in some regions for some crops pests reap a harvest much larger than does mankind.