Impact of IPM implementation in South East Asia

by: Ikhsan hasibuan, Hong ling Er, Ma Rema lauron

Green evolution in S.E.A sees the increase in pesticide use. The problems associated with excessive pesticide use include threat to environmental and human health, secondary pest outbreak and development of pesticide resistance (example).Therefore, more environmental friendly approach should be taken in order to enable a more sustainable crop production.

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a pest control method that aims at reducing the use of chemicals. It requires the knowledge of biological interaction between pest, natural enemies of pest and the crop so that complementary measures such as cultural control, biological control and selection of host plant resistance can be taken to reduce pest damage. During the last two decades, IPM has been promoted in Asian/African/Latin American countries under the collective efforts of FAO, government and NGOs. This is done through the farmer field school. In this methodology, farmers are trained to do observations and experiments in their own field. Group of farmers from neighboring places then meet up weekly to discuss their findings during the planting season. Farmer field school has been successful because it empowers the farmer, by letting them to decide for themselves the best measure in their farm, at the same time supporting them with knowledge on available technologies. As a result, pesticide use is successfully controlled, and crop yield is increased.

The philosophy of IPM coincides with organic agriculture. They are both knowledge intensive and aims at sustainable farming system. Both of them promote the use of cultural control such as crop rotation to increase biodiversity on farm. With higher biodiversity, a better balance between pest and their natural enemies can be achieved. And of course, they also select for crop varieties that are more resistant to pest. Although organic agriculture is broader than IPM because it has restriction on other aspects as well, such as fertilization, soil quality etc, IPM could be seen as a start. In this project, we would study how IPM has been implemented in S.E.A, the current state of organic agriculture in S.E.A and how organic agriculture could be promoted in S.E.A with similar approach as that of IPM, e.g. farmer field school.

What is genetic engineering?

Genetic engineering is a new technology, involving the manipulation of genes. Scientists can transfer genes from one species to another, unrelated species. This is possible because of the universal ‘gene language’ – the genetic code. It is the same for all living beings, be it animal, plants or microorganisms. For example, genes from a fish can be transferred to a tomato plant to render the tomato plant more resistant to frost. The engineered tomato plant is genetically forced to produce

the fish chemical, because of this universal ‘gene language’. So it produces an ‘antifreeze’ chemical which the fish normally produces to survive in freezing cold water. With genetic engineering it is possible to break down the species boundaries set up by millions of years of evolution. Never before was it possible to transfer genes from animals to plants or from bacteria to humans. By combining the genes of unrelated species, permanently altering their genetic codes, novel organisms are created that will pass the genetic changes onto their offspring through heredity.
Genetic engineering is a corporate technology, mainly applied by industrial agriculture.

Organic agriculture: sustainability, markets and policies

Proceedings from an OECD Workshop, Washington DC, United States, September 2002. Organic agriculture is expanding in all OECD countries, and is one of the most rapidly developing market segments. It is no longer limited to farmers selling their produce at the farm-gate or through specialised stores, but has extended into the mainstream of the agri-food chain. It is seen by many as offering considerable benefits over other production systems, particularly with respect to sustainable development. Many countries have introduced policy measures to encourage and promote organic farming. But what exactly is the contribution of organic agriculture to sustainable development? What issues should be addressed by policies? What are governments actually doing and how effective have their actions been?

The recent OECD Workshop on Organic Agriculture examined these issues. It concluded that while organic agriculture is generally less stressful on the environment, good farm management is crucial. The economic performance of organic farms is mixed, with considerable variation in the yields achieved and the premiums received for products within and across OECD countries. This publication reveals that organic agriculture is disadvantaged by current agricultural support policies, and the proliferation of standards and labels has sometimes confused consumers and impeded trade. A key policy challenge is to ensure that both the positive and negative externalities of different agricultural production systems are taken into account.

Risk assesment contaminated soils

Nature conservation and development is often planned on contaminated soils and deserted land. Such situations call for ecological risk assessment. Alterra- part of Wageningen UR - researchers specialized in ecotoxicology have developed a methodology enabling ecological risk assessment to support decisions about nature design and management. The method assesses the ecological vulnerability in food chains, food webs and ecotopes. It was tested for six chemicals: copper, zinc, cadmium, DDT, chlorpyrifos and ivermectin. These chemicals represent a wide variety of toxic impact mechanisms and effects. The analysis can be performed for any assemblage of species and enables aquatic and terrestrial species to be compared.

This study enables a new way of ecological risk assessment by comparing the feasibility of different scenarios for wild life on contaminated soils. For any common type of contamination the most favorable option for nature development is determined. Alterra expertise to enable this was built up during many years of field research data. Additionally, the ecotoxicologist perspective adds value to the traditional laboratory research by studying the animals in their natural environment. Nature conservation and development is often planned on contaminated soils and deserted land.
The method was developed in commission of the EU, in the integrated project NoMiracle, part of the European Environmental Action Plan. This research project was started in 2004 and will be active for five years, participated by a consortium of over 35 universities, research institutes and companies. NoMiracle aims to develop new methods for ecological risk assessment of environmental contamination and other stressors. The Alterra researchers used ecological trait data for individual species to assess vulnerability in different food chains. The report suggests the use of vulnerability mapping at ecotope level and discusses criteria for adequate use of existing databases to visualize vulnerability in ecosystem receptors.

Decision Support System for nature managers
Alterra will dedicate the new method as a basis for a Decision Support System for nature managers and designers. Future users will be able to enter their data on a specific wildlife area into a software interface, which will provide them with a feasibility overview of several possible applications of the area. Only a mouse click will be needed in order to retrieve an advice, e.g. on whether to dedicate the area to aquatic or terrestrial conservation target species.

Report specifics
The research team consists of Marieke de Lange, Joost Van der Pol en Jack Faber. To the first report in this series 'Ecological Vulnerability in Wildlife' Joost Lahr contributed.

• Ecology is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and the interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment.
• Toxicology is the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms.
• Ecotopes are relatively homogeneous, spatially-explicit landscape units that are useful for stratifying landscapes into ecologically distinct features for the measurement and mapping of landscape structure, function and change.

IPM in Roses

Rose export is developing rapidly. Rose growers see an urgent need for implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). It will create a competitive market advantage. Characteristics of IPM are:
• A healthy crop.
• Combination of control strategies (sanitation, biological control).
• Pesticide use is the last step.
• Reliance on own observations and experiences at the farm level.
• Combination of informal and formal research using a “grower first approach”.
IPM has been successfully applied in floriculture in other countries (such as Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).

Current Pest Control in Floriculture Currently pesticides are used, which causes concern:
• Pesticides account for 25% of expenditures.
• Export increasingly demands low residue levels.
• Pesticides are phytotoxic, and may reduce crop yield.
• Pesticides shorten the longevity of plastic cover.
• Pests develop resistance to pesticides.
• Pesticides may affect human health and environment.

Steps forward
First steps for the introduction of IPM have been taken:
• All sectors support IPM.
• Base-line surveys on flower pests have been conducted.
• Spider mites are the major problem.
• Applied rose-specific research has recently started at the Plant Protection Research Centre
• Higher education is possible at the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine
• Growers interested in biological control as well as further on-farm research have been identified.
• A standard import protocol for beneficial insects is under development.