Tainan, Taiwan
April 10, 2009
Source:
AVRDC - The World Vegetable
Center - Newsletter
Partners in pest management
To meet market demand for
vegetables, many farmers in South Asia and other tropical
regions resort to repeated applications of pesticides to control
troublesome pests that decrease yield. However, pesticide misuse
harms the environment and human health, and increases the cost
of production, making vegetables expensive for poor consumers.
A four-step integrated pest management strategy proposed by
AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center provides effective control:
sex pheromones to continuously trap the pest adults; prompt
destruction of pest-damaged shoots and fruits/pods; the use of
biopesticides like neem, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and
nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV); and the application of chemical
pesticides only when absolutely necessary.
Under an Integrated Pest Management Program, AVRDC, in
collaboration with national agricultural research and extension
systems, is promoting alternative strategies for major vegetable
crops. The Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi is
conducting 15 demonstration trials on tomato, eggplant, okra,
and sponge gourd
(luffa) in farmers’ fields on pilot sites in Meerut District,
Uttar Pradesh. A recent survey shows most farmers have readily
adopted the suggested IPM strategies. With the high cost of
chemical pesticides and the insufficient control they provided,
switching to IPM was the sensible choice.
“Farmers are now using compost to raise seedlings, and treating
seed with biological protectants,” says Dr. Ramasamy Srinivasan,
AVRDC entomologist, who recently returned from the region. “The
IPM strategies provide efficient pest control and have
substantially reduced the use of chemical inputs. Production
costs have dropped.”
Some of the farmers reported that the quality of the vegetables
from IPM fields is better than from conventional production.
Better quality pays off, as farmers are able to fetch high
prices in the market.
The project is also being implemented in Tamil Nadu with the
collaboration of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in
Coimbatore. Here, the IPM trial focuses mainly on managing the
eggplant fruit and shoot borer, Leucinodes orbonalis. “The
pheromone lures attract hundreds of moths in each trap,” says
Dr. Srinivasan. The lures were
produced by a local enterprise from Tamil Nadu; this
manufacturer is one of ten small- and medium-sized
entrepreneurs that have commercialized the pheromone technology
developed by AVRDC in collaboration with the Natural Resources
Institute in the UK. With greater market competition, the price
per lure has dropped and
farmers now can choose from a larger selection of lures.
“The pheromone traps have not only reduced the pest damage in my
field, but also reduced the damage in my neighbor’s field,”
reported a farmer participating in the pilot study. Pesticide
use was reduced significantly in his IPM field, yet yield was
comparable to that of farmers who continued to practice heavy
spraying. As news of his
encouraging results and those of other farmers using the IPM
strategy spreads, wider adoption will lead to safer vegetables
and a healthier environment for all. |
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