caa a22 4500 477073220 CHVBK 20180405111432.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170330e19960901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/BF02765791 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/BF02765791 Ooi P. c/o FAO Intercountry Programme for Integrated Pest Control in Rice in South and Southeast Asia, Jl. Taman Margasatwa No. 61, Jati Padang, Pasar Minggu, 12540, Jakarta, Indonesia aut Experiences in educating rice farmers to understand biological control [Elektronische Daten] [P. Ooi] Expériences lors de la formation des cultivateurs de riz à la lutte biologique Traditionally, rice farmers in Asia were thought to be unable to comprehend biological control because it was too esoteric. This perception was exacerbated by vested interest that prefers to maintain monopoly of information. Hence, between 1950 to 1990, the preferred method of extending technical information to farmers was to package them in "simplistic” messages. For example, prophylactic chemical control was a common approach of many extension systems in Asian economies during that period despite evidence from ecological studies to the contrary. In fact, the dogma that chemical control is equal to modern agriculture persists to this day in some countries. Such an approach often exaggerated yield loss figures to scare and justify use of chemical insecticides which eventually resulted in further yield losses. There has been increasing evidence that in tropical Asia, natural enemies are ubiquitous in rice fields and are responsible for keeping populations of rice herbivores in check. The rise of the brown planthopper as a serious pest was linked to regular use of insecticides. Outbreaks of this delphacid in tropical rice resulted from destruction of effective predators. With the help of biological control scientists, the FAO Intercountry Programme for Integrated Pest Control in South and Southeast Asia (ICP) presented evidence to the President of Indonesia in 1986 and secured a ban of 57 types of insecticides from rice fields. Promulgating legislative actions was a start and to sustain it an education programme to help farmers understand the importance of biological control was developed. This programme recognised that a traditional top-down process of instructing farmers would not help farmers and a non-formal education process of learning by experimenting and discovery was formulated. This approach emphasised the need for farmers to understand the rice ecosystem. Hence, rice fields became classrooms for farmers participating in the Farmer Field Schools. Farmers learned that not ail arthropods in the field are pests and to their surprise, most of the arthropods are "friendly" insects. They discovered that these friendly insects eat herbivores. Using insecticide check and exclusion cage experiments, farmers learned of the adverse impact of insecticides and the impact of predators in keeping herbivore populations in check. The curriculum includes crop physiology, agronomy, health risks to insecticides and group dynamics. The principles of IPM emphasised in the Farmer Field Schools are: 1) Grow a healthy crop; 2) Visit fields regularly, preferably once a week to monitor field situation; 3) Understand and conserve natural enemies; 4) Farmers become experts in pest management. Adoption of this approach has led to a 60% drop in use of insecticides resulting in 13% increase in yield. Similar results were achieved in Vietnam and the Philippines. Facilitating farmers to understand biological control through field investigations is the key to successful implementation of Integrated Pest Management Lavoisier Abonnements, 1996 IPM nationallicence rice nationallicence Nilaparvata lugens nationallicence technology transfer nationallicence education nationallicence farmer school nationallicence Entomophaga Springer Netherlands 41/3-4(1996-09-01), 375-385 0013-8959 41:3-4<375 1996 41 10526 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02765791 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02765791 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Ooi P. c/o FAO Intercountry Programme for Integrated Pest Control in Rice in South and Southeast Asia, Jl. Taman Margasatwa No. 61, Jati Padang, Pasar Minggu, 12540, Jakarta, Indonesia aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Entomophaga Springer Netherlands 41/3-4(1996-09-01), 375-385 0013-8959 41:3-4<375 1996 41 10526 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer