Weed Control has been always a basic, indispensable and integral part of agricultural from time immemorial. In India, the concept of weed control by herbicide was made in 1937. In 1946, 2,4-D was tested in India for the weed control of Carthamus oxycantha. Since then a number of herbicides have been imported and tested for their effectiveness for control in many weed species. In 1942, ICAR had initiated schemes for testing field performance of herbicides on different crops in different states with an objective to investigate the weed flora of a region in major crops and the relative effectiveness of herbicides and economisation of their usages in terms of increased yield over manual and cultural methods.

In early 1950's common usage of herbicides in organized sector like Tea plantation, introduced the concept of chemical weed control in India. This became a necessary impetus for the growth of herbicide market not only in plantation but in other crops also in subsequent years. In 1978 ICAR recognised need for strengthening weed research in India by setting up the All India Co-ordinated Research Program on Weed Control at 7 locations. The work in these centres was increased in 1981 to almost all the states to co-ordinate weed control research w.r.t. different crops in relation to their environment.

Early 70's and 80's emerging scenario was to have weed management through use of herbicide in rice and wheat. The technology provided answers which were accepted by the farming community. During the 90's and onward the scenario was changing due to various problems observed in different crops and cropping systems. Further anticipated scenario which is getting clearer includes new chemical products, plant pathogens, botanicals and micro organisms. The relative selectivity, utilization and development of these technology would definitely help the concept of Integrated Weed Management system intime to come.

As the weed science progressed in India, marketing of herbicides has increased substantially due to increase in labour cost. The consumption of technical grade herbicide was 15 MT in 70s which increased to 480 MT in 1991 and is about 10,000 MT till date. Punjab and Haryana lead in herbicide usage in wheat and rice.

In future the herbicides will continue to play an important role in Integrated Weed Management systems. Chemicals which are environmentally safer and more selective and applied in less dosages are more preferred which to fit into Integrated Weed Management Programs. However, the impact of cultural & biological control is not minimized in IWM.

Ever since the herbicide weed control has been adopted in India, the pesticide industry has been adopted in India the pesticide industry in general , and herbicide industry in particular have been collaborating with ISWS and All India Coordinated Project with common goal of bringing safer, cost effective herbicide technology in to the Indian farmers. The weedicide Industry would continue to play the positive role in advocating integrated weed management system to help Indian farmers in reaping their best harvest. The industry also feeds the ISWS and All India Research Program can aim towards developing data bank on weed science in India which includes herbicide profiles on crop, the weed control efficacy in relation to soil, water, fertilization and other related agronomic factors. This data bank would definitely help not only weed scientist but also government agency and industry to plan and implement strategies for weed control in India for sustaining agricultural production.

During the current century, the industry and ISWS worked together towards a better understanding and servicing and farming community. In the millenium, let us strive to work together towards playing a positive role in solving the problem of food and energy in India.

Below follows an abstract of a paper by our Crop Protection Expert, Dr. S.A. Ram, which was presented at the World Cotton Research Conference-2 held in Athens-Greece in September 1998.