Herbal Herbicide: A Low-Cost and Eco-Friendly Tool for Weed Management in Smallholder Farming

Abstract

Weeds have been recognized as a major biotic constraint towards achieving higher crop productivity as well as quality. With the current crop protection measures, weeds cause nearly one-third of the crop losses among all the crop pests. The effective approach to combat the weed menace is the need-based use of herbicides. Because of widespread growing concern over the environmental aspects of commonly used herbicides as well as their untimely availability, development of weed resistance, etc., the need for the use of conveniently available and biodegradable herbicides is very much imperative. Researchers currently search for novel alternatives to the synthetic herbicides, which would be biodegradable and environment-friendly. Common plants and their metabolites become a source of compounds that can be utilized directly as natural herbicides or as lead structures for the herbicide discovery. These herbal herbicides in judicious combination with other weed management methods would be a potential tool to combat weed menace, especially by the smallholder farmers in rural areas in general, and organic or natural farming in particular.