Non - chemical weed management for sustainable agriculture

Farmers have struggled with the presence of weeds in their fields since the beginning of agriculture. Weeds can be considered a significant problem because they tend to decrease crop yields by increasing competition for water, sunlight, and nutrients while serving as host plants for pests and diseases. Today, some farmers have a renewed interest in organic methods of managing weeds since the widespread use of agrochemicals has resulted in purported environmental and health problems. It has also been found that in some cases herbicide use can cause some weed species to dominate fields because the weeds develop resistance to herbicide. The recent upsurge in environmental awareness of the public, interest in organic food production and some problems with herbicide use, has led to a range of sustainable techniques being developed for non-chemical weed control. It is important to understand that under an organic farmer must rely on cultural practices, mechanical control and biological methods for weed control. This has made it difficult for conventional farmers to readily take up organic production since putting an end to herbicide use may cause a potential increase in weed population and negatively affect crop yields and profits. However, proper organic weed management or non-chemical techniques can alleviate these potential problems. In this review, various non chemical weed control methods are considered separately from methods of controlling weeds directly and also given the sub-divided to define and discuss more closely the different areas of interest that lie within them.