The green revolution raises a dilemma between two interests, namely the economic and ecological sides. Massive intensification and extensification efforts have pushed agricultural inputs towards the use of synthetic chemicals, both fertilizers and pesticides. In addition, the monoculture cultivation model of planting the same types of plants continuously every season has the potential to cause ecosystem imbalance due to a homogeneous environment. This ecosystem imbalance is what triggers pest explosions.
The emergence of various types of pests and their explosions in various areas has become the driving force for the need for rapid control efforts. Likewise, in rice plantations, there are many pests that attack, including leafhoppers, rats, birds, grasshoppers, caterpillars and various other things, all of which require a short time to be handled so that there is no explosion, so an alternative chemical pesticide is chosen which is capable of killing directly and has a broad spectrum on various kinds of pests. However, the use of synthetic pesticides often occurs not on target, resulting in the death of various types of natural enemies which ultimately causes resurgence (an increase in the number of pests after pesticide application) and resistance (an increase in the number of pests due to the death of sensitive organisms and leaving resistant organisms and the death of natural enemies) pest.
Natural enemies are organisms, either animals or microbes, that exist in nature and function as controllers of pest populations. The use of natural enemies is one method that is a reference in the context of integrated pest management (IPM). Natural enemies of pests can be predators (sect-eaters), parasitoids (insect parasites) and also entomopathogens (insect antagonistic microbes). Increasing the number of natural enemies can reduce plant damage and environmental pollution due to chemical inputs. Natural enemies used to control pest populations are generally referred to as biological controls. One strategy to maximize the function and role of natural enemies in the most rational environment is environmental conservation in order to provide food and a comfortable growing environment for natural enemies.
Habitat management is defined as an effort to manipulate the local habitat to make it suitable for natural enemies so that the pressure on pest populations increases, and one of these is using a diverse planting system (polyculture). Schellhorn and Sork (1997) showed that vegetation diversity can increase the diversity of herbivorous and carnivorous arthropods.
Refugia is the planting of several types of plants that can provide shelter, food sources and other resources for natural enemies such as predators and parasitoids. Refugia has a function as an alternative habitat in conservation efforts for natural enemies. There are various types of refugia plants, such as ornamental plants, for example sunflowers, paper flowers and kenikir, weeds, for example babandotan, ajeran and chicken dung flowers.
The refugia that are currently being developed are generally bright flowering plants that function to attract predatory insects, parasitoids and pollinators such as syrpid and net flies. Apart from being an insect attractant, refugia can also have aesthetic and economic value. The aesthetic value of the environment can be obtained from the various colors of flowers arranged along the rice fields, which will add to the beauty of the environment, and this will attract children to be introduced to farming from a young age, so that they hope to return to farming later. Meanwhile, economic value is obtained from the types of flowers planted, the results can be picked again as vegetables or other things, such as kenikir flowers, the leaves can be sold as fresh vegetables or sunflower seeds, the seeds can be taken and most importantly, many of them can also be used as health ingredients. Planting various types of refugia flowers now includes not only one function but three, ecological, economic and aesthetic.
