Both the existence of a subtropical climate and intensive agricultural system provide favorable conditions for pest prevalence in Taiwan. Agricultural pest control is almost exclusively carried out by the use of chemicals leading to excessive applications of pesticides, as evidenced by the consumption of 370 kinds of pesticides totalling 36,000 tons in 1981.
Improvement of the present situation is under way. In this paper, the following three topics are being dealt with: 1) Brown planthopper control, 2) Studies on insecticidal resistance and 3) Grub control.