Impacts of transgenic Bt cotton and integrated pest management education on smallholder cotton farmers

Abstract

Comparative field research on transgenic Bt cotton and conventional cotton under different conditions (fields without pesticide inputs, fields managed by farmers with IPM education, fields managed by farmers lacking IPM education) were carried out in Hubei province of China in 2002. The amount of pesticide used on Bt cotton by non-IPM farmers was found to be around three times that used by IPM farmers. IPM farmers made significantly higher net profits from cultivating transgenic Bt cotton in comparison with non-IPM farmers. Other pest management practices had more significant influences on the population dynamics of predatory natural enemies and major insect pests than did the adoption of transgenic Bt cotton in the cotton ecosystem. Our study showed that IPM education, by increasing farmer capacity to critically evaluate inputs and their effects, monitor their fields and make informed decisions on pest management, enabled farmers to reduce pesticide use significantly, so resulting in improved production and profit margin. IPM farmer education thus, contributed to maximising the value of planting transgenic Bt cotton.     

Direct and indirect impacts of integrated pest management on pesticide use: a case of rice agriculture in Java, Indonesia

BACKGROUND: Integrated pest management (IPM) technology has been disseminated since 1989 in Indonesia to cut down pesticide use, but the adoption and diffusion of the technology are still debated. This study aims to estimate the models of demand for pesticides and to analyse the impact of IPM technology on pesticide use. Aggregate cross-section time series data from 1990-1998 are used.RESULTS: The results show that IPM technology reduces the use of pesticides by improving the process of rice production, such that pesticides are more efficiently used. In this case, the IPM technology is not a pest control technique.CONCLUSION There is an indication that IPM technology has been adopted by farmers. This is evidence that the IPM programme in Indonesia was successful in this area. Copyright (c) 2008 Society of Chemical Industry.     

Integrated pest management portfolios in UK arable farming: results of a farmer survey

BACKGROUND: Farmers are faced with a wide range of pest management (PM) options that can be adopted in isolation or alongside complementary or substitute strategies. This paper presents the results of a survey of UK cereal producers, focusing on the character and diversity of PM strategies currently used by, or available to, farmers. In addition, the survey asked various questions pertaining to agricultural policy participation, attitude towards environmental issues, sources of PM advice and information and the important characteristics of PM technologies. RESULTS: The results indicate that many farmers do make use of a suite of PM techniques, and that their choice of integrated PM (IPM) portfolio appears to be jointly dictated by farm characteristics and government policy. Results also indicate that portfolio choice does affect the number of subsequent insecticide applications per crop. CONCLUSIONS: These results help to identify the type of IPM portfolios considered to be adoptable by farmers and highlight the importance of substitution in IPM portfolios. As such, these results will help to direct R&D effort towards the realisation of more sustainable PM approaches and aid the identification of potential portfolio adopters. These findings highlight the opportunity that a revised agri‐environmental policy design could generate in terms of enhancing coherent IPM portfolio adoption. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Integrated pest management of coffee for small-scale farmers in East Africa: needs and limitations

Coffee in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) is an important cash and export crop for small-scale farmers. The crop suffers heavy yield losses due to damage caused by a wide range of indigenous pests (insects, diseases, nematodes and weeds). Current recommended pest control measures include a combination of cultural, resistant/tolerant cultivars and the use of broad spectrum chemical pesticides. Chemical pesticides are far more popular at the farm level than any of the other recommended pest control measures. Coffee pest control strategies are often aimed at individual pests with little consideration of the implications for the total coffee pest complex and its agro-ecosystem. This unilateral approach has resulted in increased pest pressure on coffee and some of its companion crops, outbreak of new pests of coffee, development of pest strains resistant to the cheap and commonly available chemical pesticides, increased environmental problems, increased health risks to man and livestock and an overall increase in the costs of coffee production, thus forcing many farmers to neglect their coffee plantations. Measures to alleviate the above problems, particularly the high production costs, are needed to improve coffee production and increase the cash return to the small-scale farmer. Integrated pest management (IPM) offers the best prospects for solving the above problems. However, lack of national IPM policies, poor extension systems, inefficient research-extension-farmer linkage and the lack of a holistic approach will delay the development and implementation of appropriate, acceptable and sustainable IPM practices.     

A call for stakeholders to boost integrated pest management in Europe: a vision based on the three-year European research area network project

Recent years have seen an increasing effort towards the development and adoption of sustainable crop protection strategies, especially in the EU. Several policy frameworks have been put in place including the EU framework Directive (128/EC/2009) on the sustainable use of pesticides. Consequently, all EU Member States developed National Action Plans to ensure the implementation of the general principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by all professional pesticide users starting from January 1, 2014. On the other hand, there are also difficulties related to the adoption of IPM in Europe and worldwide which seek for a better understanding of factors hindering IPM uptake. This paper presents the potential role that each actor of the food chain may have – called here stakeholders – to ensure a higher level IPM adoption in Europe. The information reported here is a summary based on several discussions held within a three-year European Research Area Network project on Coordinated Integrated Pest Management (ERA-Net C-IPM; http://c-ipm.org/).     

IPM: Overcoming Conflicts in Adoption

The diversity of competing interests in North America provides a remarkable series of divergent messages to growers. Depending on what crop they produce or how they farm, they may be heroes or villains, loyal or unpatriotic, or stewards or ravagers of the environment. Even relatively minor changes in farming practices can result in significant public or political response. Considering that growers may risk 100% of their crop yield on a potential savings of 10% (or less) for investment in pesticides, it is not surprising that growers are slow to adopt IPM programs. Well-intentioned appeals to eliminate pesticides, or save the environment at all costs, are usually not effective. Likewise, a high failure rate can be expected from attempts to legislate IPM, implement programs that focus on only part of a pest complex, or adoption strategies that do not include on-farm testing and extensive educational efforts. However, some strategies have proven effective. Growers who have experienced loss of pesticides due to resistance are receptive to management programs which avoid or delay resistance. Many programs have been adopted piecemeal, starting with sampling programs followed by treatment thresholds and modified pesticide use. One of the most successful approaches has been an economic comparison of grower standard and IPM programs using partial budgets. Increased net profits provide powerful incentives for program adoption.     

A systematic review of the literature reveals trends and gaps in integrated pest management studies conducted in the United States

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a broad‐based approach for addressing pests that negatively affect human and environmental health and economic profitability. Weeds, insects and disease‐causing pathogens (diseases) are the pests most often associated with IPM. A systematic review, widely used in other scientific disciplines, was employed to determine the most commonly studied IPM topics and summarize the reasons for these trends and the gaps. In a field synopsis of the literature, 1679 relevant published papers were identified and categorized into one of the following five broad areas: IPM and organic (organic), climate change and pests (climate), rural and urban IPM (rural and urban), next‐generation education (education) and advanced production systems (technology). Papers were examined in greater detail for at least one of the three main pests in a systematic review. A majority (85%) of IPM papers have been in the area of rural and urban IPM, primarily addressing agriculture (78%). Professionals, landowners and the general public were the focus of a majority (95%) of IPM papers on education. Technology is an increasing area of focus in the literature. Over the past 40 years, IPM papers have primarily (75%) addressed insects and been limited mostly to rural and urban settings. Climate change, technology and education specific to pest management studies are increasingly being published and will help broaden the focus that could result in increased adoption and development of IPM. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effect of cassava mosaic disease,soil fertility,plant spacing and their interactions on cassava yields in Zanzibar

Improvement of farmers' decision-making has been recognised as critical for the implementation of IPM, yet practitioners lack sound knowledge on the 'how and why' of farmers' decision-making processes. This study explored the perceptions, pest management practice, decision tools and sources of information of smallholder farmers growing cotton in India and vegetables in Kenya. Farmers trained under an Insecticide Resistance Management and two IPM Farmer Field School projects were compared with untrained farmers from the same localities, using individual interviews and participatory group analysis methods. Trained farmers' decision-making was enhanced, by the use of more decision tools and new sources of information and technologies and they were generally more confident in their pest management strategies than untrained farmers. As a result, trained farmers reduced their pest management costs but did not always obtain higher gross margins. Issues of gender, sustainability, economics and group action are discussed, along with recommendations for research and extension to take a closer look at farmers' decision-making processes in cash and subsistence crops.     

Perspective: service‐based business models to incentivize the efficient use of pesticides in crop protection

Several problems limit the productivity and acceptance of crop protection, including pesticide overuse, pesticide resistance, poor adoption of integrated pest management (IPM), declining funding for research and extension, and inefficiencies of scale. We discuss the proposition that alternative business models for crop protection can address these problems by incentivizing and benefiting from efficiency of pesticide use. Currently, business models are not linked to the adoption of IPM and are sometimes at odds with IPM practices. We explore a business model based on the provision of pest management adequacy through services rather than the sale of pesticide products. Specifically, we advocate for establishment of crop protection adequacy standards that would allow a market system to maximize efficiency. Changing some of the relationships between agricultural companies and producers from one based on products to one based on services is an idea worthy of debate and evaluation for improving the efficiency of pest management. Contemporary information technology enhancing monitoring and coordination warrants attention in this debate. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Perceptions of risk, risk aversion, and barriers to adoption of decision support systems and integrated pest management: an introduction

Rational management of plant diseases, both economically and environmentally, involves assessing risks and the costs associated with both correct and incorrect tactical management decisions to determine when control measures are warranted. Decision support systems can help to inform users of plant disease risk and thus assist in accurately targeting events critical for management. However, in many instances adoption of these systems for use in routine disease management has been perceived as slow. The under-utilization of some decision support systems is likely due to both technical and perception constraints that have not been addressed adequately during development and implementation phases. Growers' perceptions of risk and their aversion to these perceived risks can be reasons for the "slow" uptake of decision support systems and, more broadly, integrated pest management (IPM). Decision theory provides some tools that may assist in quantifying and incorporating subjective and/or measured probabilities of disease occurrence or crop loss into decision support systems. Incorporation of subjective probabilities into IPM recommendations may be one means to reduce grower uncertainty and improve trust of these systems because management recommendations could be explicitly informed by growers' perceptions of risk and economic utility. Ultimately though, we suggest that an appropriate measure of the value and impact of decision support systems is grower education that enables more skillful and informed management decisions independent of consultation of the support tool outputs.     

Diffusion and adoption of farm technologies among resource-limited farmers: Experiences from the ICIPE/UNECA Integrated Pest Management Project in Western Kenya

Abstract

The ICIPE/UNECA pilot IPM project was implemented in the Oyugis and Kendu Bay areas ofwestern Kenya during 1987 - 1992. One of its objectives was diffusion of proven IPM technologies from farmers participating in the projectto their non-participating neighbours. A survey of 98 non-participating farmers aimed at finding out whether they had adopted any of the IPM technology components that were being implemented by the project farmers was completed in 1992. Whereas nearly two-thirds of the farmers were aware of ICIPE's research work in the project sites, only 30% in Oyugis and 16.7% in Kendu Bay had adopted some IPM technology component. Those farmers adopting components tended to have had contact with the project's technicians and extension workers, and had also visited the IPM crop trials.     

Eco‐efficiency as a strategy for optimizing the sustainability of pest management

Agricultural industrialization and the subsequent reliance on pesticides has resulted in numerous unintended consequences, such as impacts upon the environment and by extension human health. Eco‐efficiency is a strategy for sustainably increasing production, while simultaneously decreasing these externalities on ecological systems. Eco‐efficiency is defined as the ratio of production to environmental impacts. It has been widely adopted to improve chemical production, but we investigate the challenges of applying eco‐efficiency to pesticide use. Eco‐efficiency strategies include technological innovation, investment in research and development, improvement of business processes, and accounting for market forces. These components are often part of integrated pest management (IPM) systems that include alternatives to pesticides, but its implementation is often thwarted by commercial realities and technical challenges. We propose the creation and adoption of an eco‐efficiency index for pesticide use so that the broad benefits of eco‐efficient strategies such as IPM can be more readily quantified. We propose an index based upon the ratio of crop yield to a risk quotient (RQ) calculated from pesticide toxicity. Eco‐efficiency is an operational basis for optimizing pest management for sustainability. It naturally favors adoption of IPM and should be considered by regulators, researchers, and practitioners involved in pest management. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Advocating a need for suitable breeding approaches to boost integrated pest management: a European perspective

Currently, European farmers do not have access to sufficient numbers and diversity of crop species/varieties. This prevents them from designing cropping systems more resilient to abiotic and biotic stresses. Crop diversification is a key lever to reduce pest (pathogens, animal pests and weeds) pressures at all spatial levels from fields to landscapes. In this context, plant breeding should consist of: (1) increased efforts in the development of new or minor crop varieties to foster diversity in cropping systems, and (2) focus on more resilient varieties showing local adaptation. This new breeding paradigm, called here ‘breeding for integrated pest management (IPM)’, may boost IPM through the development of cultivars with tolerance or resistance to key pests, with the goal of reducing reliance on conventional pesticides. At the same time, this paradigm has legal and practical implications for future breeding programs, including those targeting sustainable agricultural systems. By putting these issues into the context, this article presents the key outcomes of a questionnaire survey and experts' views expressed during an EU workshop entitled ‘Breeding for IPM in sustainable agricultural systems’. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

The Adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by Tropical Fruit Growers in Thailand as an Example of Change Management Theory and Practice

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a well-known innovation that accords with modern environmental management's (EMs) best practice. In this paper, it is examined in two ways. First, a recent IPM knowledge diffusion project in a region of Thailand, where durian is extensively grown, is described and analysed in relation to the adoption of both its philosophy and methods by growers. Particular use is made of a theory of innovation (Rogers) to depict the intensity, rate and scale of adoption by the durian growers. Second, attention is focused on IPM as an expression of theory and practice in change management. What is shown is that successful adoption of IPM depends upon a number of factors, notably durian growers perceptions of relative advantage and the way the approach is communicated and learned by them through practical application. In terms of change management theory, the intelligent way IPM knowledge was transferred, through the mediating role of agricultural extension workers (AEWs), reflected the current emphasis on collaborative partnerships and learning as an effective means of managing change in complex environments.     

Identifying obstacles and ranking common biological control research priorities for Europe to manage most economically important pests in arable,vegetable and perennial crops

EU agriculture is currently in transition from conventional crop protection to integrated pest management (IPM). Because biocontrol is a key component of IPM, many European countries recently have intensified their national efforts on biocontrol research and innovation (R&I), although such initiatives are often fragmented. The operational outputs of national efforts would benefit from closer collaboration among stakeholders via transnationally coordinated approaches, as most economically important pests are similar across Europe. This paper proposes a common European framework on biocontrol R&I. It identifies generic R&I bottlenecks and needs as well as priorities for three crop types (arable, vegetable and perennial crops). The existing gap between the market offers of biocontrol solutions and the demand of growers, the lengthy and expensive registration process for biocontrol solutions and their varying effectiveness due to variable climatic conditions and site‐specific factors across Europe are key obstacles hindering the development and adoption of biocontrol solutions in Europe. Considering arable, vegetable and perennial crops, a dozen common target pests are identified for each type of crop and ranked by order of importance at European level. Such a ranked list indicates numerous topics on which future joint transnational efforts would be justified. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

The importance of forecasting and warning systems in implementation of integrated pest management in apple orchards in Turkey*

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) has been widely implemented in apple orchards in various regions of Turkey. Between 1995 and 1999, in Central Anatolia and the Aegean Region, apple scab (Venturia inequalis) and codling moth (Cydia pomonella) were key pests, and implementation of pest control was based on forecasting and warning systems. During the project, orchards in which IPM was implemented and in which farmers applied conventional practices were compared. In nine provinces in which IPM projects were carried out in 1999, the damage due to codling moth was 0–1.3% in IPM orchards while it was 0.4–21.8% in nearby non‐IPM orchards. It is clear that damage did not reach the acceptable threshold level of 2% in any of the IPM orchards, while damage was much higher than the threshold in conventionally‐farmed orchards. The number of fungicide applications against apple scab decreased to 5–6 applications from 10–15 applications in the Eğirdir district of the Isparta Province in 1996 as a result of IPM implementation. No insecticides were applied against codling moth in IPM orchards in the Nigde Province in 1998 and 1999 because population levels of the pest were low and under the economic threshold. Apple producers received training and 1200 producers from Central Anatolia became experts in IPM for their own orchards, learning to make appropriate decisions about pest control. The Apple IPM Guideline was prepared and disseminated. In Turkey modern equipment for forecasting and warning systems was employed and, in the last decade, forecasting and warning networks have been improved. Computer‐based systems have increased the speed and accuracy of forecasting as well as decreasing its costs. A computerized national forecasting network in apple orchards now transmits data from the field to system headquarters automatically. The national forecasting network has been expanded and covered 12 208 800 apple trees in 34 provinces in 2006, using 115 electronic forecasting and warning stations.     

养殖规模、外部约束与生猪养殖者亲环境行为采纳研究

生猪养殖者采纳亲环境行为对有效防治畜禽养殖面源污染至关重要.基于全国8省1484个生猪养殖者的调查数据,采用Logit和Tobit回归模型,探讨环境规制类外部约束和社会规范类外部约束对不同养殖规模生猪养殖者采纳亲环境行为的影响差异.结果 表明:养殖规模越大,生猪养殖者采纳亲环境行为的概率越大;外部约束对生猪养殖者亲环境...     

IPM and Organic Agriculture for Smallholders in Africa

The markets for organic produce offer the opportunity for smallholders in Africa (and elsewhere) to increase their income through access to the price premiums paid in Europe and North America. Facing declining soil fertility, the high cost of off-farm inputs and the collapse of state or para-statal input credit schemes, organic farming offers a sustainable solution for resource-poor farming communities, quite apart from the lure of price premiums. The use of purchased inputs is already at a low level in the smallholder sector in Africa and this may allow farm produce to immediately meet organic standards. The principles of IPM can be applied to organic agriculture to achieve adequate pest and disease control with the restricted use of pesticides that is required for farm produce to meet organic standards. The paper describes some of the problems facing smallholders wishing to access organic markets and describes the IPM options available, which meet the standards of organic certification.     

干旱区农户灌溉方式选择的影响因素--以河北省张北县为例

对于干旱缺水的华北地区,推动节水灌溉被认为是可以有效减少农业用水的措施,近年来我国政府也加大了对该地区农业节水技术的投资力度。但由于缺乏对采用农业节水技术影响因素的深入了解,在很大程度上阻碍了节水技术的大面积推广。本文基于河北省张北县的实际调研数据,从地块特征、农户自身特征以及社会环境因素三个方面,采用多项Logit和决策树两种模型对比研究了干旱区农户选择灌溉方式的影响因素;同时构建了一般线性模型,分析了农户采用现代社区型节水技术程度的影响因素。结果表明:政府扶持是农户选择现代社区型节水技术的关键因素,其次是地块面积和家庭水浇地经营规模,但这三个因素对采用该技术程度的影响并不显著。此外,农户的年龄、受教育程度以及土壤类型对灌溉方式选择及其采用程度都具有重要影响,但农户所感知的水资源供求状况没有显著影响。     

Nonchemical management of soilborne pests in fresh market vegetable production systems

ABSTRACT Nonchemical methods including host resistance, organic amendments, crop rotation, soil solarization, and cultural practices have been used to control soilborne pests in fresh market vegetable production systems. Their suitability as alternatives to methyl bromide will depend on the approach to pest management used by the grower. Traditionally, methyl bromide is used in production systems that rely on the single application of a broad-spectrum biocide to disinfest soils prior to planting. Non-chemical methods are not suitable for a single tactic approach to pest management because they do not provide the same broad spectrum of activity or consistency as fumigation with methyl bromide. Nonchemical methods are compatible with an integrated pest management (IPM) approach, where multiple tactics are used to maintain damage from pests below an economic threshold while minimizing the impact to beneficial organisms. However, adoption of IPM is hindered by the paucity of economically feasible sampling programs and thresholds for soilborne pests and by a reluctance of growers to commit additional resources to the collection and management of biological information. A novel approach to the management of soilborne pests is to design the crop production system to avoid pest outbreaks. Using this "proactive" approach, a tomato production system was developed using strip-tillage into existing bahia-grass pasture. By minimizing inputs and disruption to the pasture, growers were able to reap the rotational benefits of bahiagrass without cultivating the rotational crop. While minimizing the need for interventive procedures, a proactive approach is difficult to integrate into existing crop production systems and will require several years of testing and validation.