Subject: PANUPS: Farmer First
From: [email-masked] (PANNA InfoPubs)
Date: 17 Aug 1994 00:10:12 -0000
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture

>From: PANNA InfoPubs <paninfopubs>

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  PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES SERVICE
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Farmer First: Field Schools Key to IPM Success

August 16, 1994

The techniques of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) have been 
applied since the 1960s, but many IPM programs have failed to 
take root with farmers, in spite of demonstrations that 
natural enemies effectively control many insect pests. 
Experience in many countries demonstrates that IPM training 
is not effective when simply packaged as part of a top-down 
extension message. In contrast, a project developing Farmer 
Field Schools in South and Southeast Asia has pioneered 
successful methods of training rice farmers in the field to 
understand and manage the plant-pest ecology in their fields 
as the basis of their IPM decisions.

The Farmer Field Schools project is a joint United Nations 
Food and Agriculture Organization and government cooperative 
program that has been operating since 1980 in Bangladesh, 
India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and 
Thailand, and since 1987 in China and Vietnam. Rice growing 
in Asia employs more than 200 million families, and 1992 
production was estimated at 480 million tons, or 91% of the 
world crop. By March 1993, approximately 18,000 extension 
agents and over 500,000 farmers had been trained as part of 
the program. 

Through the participatory approach of Farmer Field Schools, 
the project trains farmers to understand the role of natural 
insect pest enemies in the rice ecosystem. As a direct 
result, Asian rice farmers have saved an average of US$10 per 
hectare per season, and participating countries have achieved 
a 50% reduction, estimated at US$325 million per year. As 
most governments still subsidize pesticide purchases, this 
reduction amounts to a significant saving and questions the 
need for subsidies.

The health and environmental benefits associated with IPM as 
practiced by these farmers are also considerable. Farmers 
become more aware of the hazards of handling and using 
pesticides, and more critical of those they select, because 
of potential effects on the local ecosystem.

Multinational agrochemical companies still encourage farmers 
to spray more than is necessary. Chemical companies routinely 
run intensive radio and billboard advertising campaigns, 
promoting their products as "IPM compatible" and giving away 
t-shirts, caps, and pens with corporate logos. Paul Teng, a 
plant pathologist at the International Rice Research 
Institute, pointed out that "the companies are usually better 
organized and have more money to get their message across 
than government services," undercutting the effectiveness of 
IPM training.

Nonetheless, the field training programs are a powerful 
farmer-oriented tool. Although pesticides continue to be 
advertised and used, farmers increasingly discriminate 
whether, when and how they may be needed. Their knowledge of 
natural enemies, economic thresholds of pest damage and 
enhanced safety awareness give them the confidence to base 
crop-management decisions on their own knowledge. Farmers 
trained in these methods will not automatically become part 
of a pesticide treadmill, and often seek to apply their 
positive experiences with rice IPM to other crops.

Sources: FAO, Intercountry Programme for the Development and 
Application of Integrated Pest Control in Rice in South and 
South-East Asia, Phase I and II, Terminal Report, Rome, 1994; 
New Scientist, May 7, 1994; Pesticides News, June 1994.
Contact: Barbara Dinham, The Pesticides Trust, Eurolink 
Business Centre, 49 Effra Road, London SW2 1BZ, United 
Kingdom; phone (44-71) 274 8895; fax (44-71) 274 9084; email 
[email-masked].

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The Pesticide Action Network Updates Service (PANUPS) is a 
pesticide-related news service posted weekly by the Pesticide 
Action Network North America Regional Center (PANNA). PANNA 
is located at 116 New Montgomery Street, #810, San Francisco, 
CA 94105. Tel: (415) 541-9140. Fax: (415) 541-9253. To 
receive a standard information packet about the Pesticide 
Action Network send a short e-mail message to panna-
[email-masked].
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