Insect pest management in food legumes: The future strategiesH CSharmaauthor.et alauthorFood legumes such as chickpea, pigeonpea, cowpea, field pea, lentil, faba bean, blackgram, greengram, grasspea, and Phaseolus beans play an important role in the daily diets of peoplf1 worldwide. These crops are damaged by a large number of insect pests, of which pod borers, Helicoverpa armigera and H. punctigera; spotted pod borer, Maruca vitrata; spiny pod borer, Etiella zinckenella; pod fly, Melanagromyza obtusa; leaf miner, Liriomyza cicerina; stem fly, Ophiomyia phaseoli; pea and bean weevil, Sitona spp.; aphids, Aphis craccivora, Aphis fabae, and Acyrthosiphon pisum; white fly, Bemisia tabaci; defoliators, Spodoptera litura, S. exigua, and Amsacta spp.; leafhoppers, Empoasca spp., thrips, Megaleurothrips dorsalis, and Caliothrips indicus; blister beetles, Mylabris spp.; and the bruchids, Collasobruchus chinensis and Bruchus pisorum cause extensive losses worldwide. Because of development of resistance to insecticides in several insect species, there is a need to integrate different control tactics. Sources of resistance to insects in grain legumes have been identified, but these have not been used effectively in crop improvement. There is a need to place greater emphasis on utilization of wild relatives of crops with different resistance mecharusms, genetic engineering of plants for insect resistance, and identificatiorl of molecular markers associated with resistance to insect pests. Cultural manipulation of the crop and its environment, population monitoring and pest forecasting, manipulation of the crop environment to encourage the activity of natural enemies, use of natural plant products and bio-pesticides alone or in combination with synthetic pesticides, deployment of insectresistant varieties derived through conventional breeding, wide hybridization, or genetic engineering, and rational use of selective chemicals can be exploited for pest management in food legumes.Food Legumes2005Conference or Workshop Item