FAO IPM Meeting In Bangkok
Global Study Tour and Meeting Showcase Asian IPM Successes;
Governments and Donors Endorse "IPM Manifesto"
November 17, 1993
During the week of August 22 - 29, 1993, the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Intercountry Programme for IPM
in Asia organized a Global Field Study Tour on Integrated Pest
Management (IPM). Participants in the study tour, crop
protection workers from 22 African, Latin American, and Near
Eastern countries and two agronomists from non- governmental
organizations (NGOs), spent the week working in the field with
farmers and crop protection workers in one of four Asian host
countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam). The
NGO represented were the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Latin
America Regional Center in Colombia, and the Latin American
Consortium on Agroecology and Development (CLADES), based in
Chile.
The study tour examined IPM models developed by Asian farmers and
village-level technical advisors for more than a decade, recently
with the support of national IPM programs. More than half a
million rice farmers in Asia now manage pests using skills of
observation and interpretation to analyze their crops as
agroecosystems, conserve biodiversity and beneficial species,
dramatically reduce pesticide use and exposure, and raise
individual profits. Collectively, their IPM practices reduce
threats to staple food production from major pest outbreaks, and
help make farmers more demanding clients for agricultural
research and extension systems.
Following the study tour, participants joined representatives
from FAO Intercountry Rice IPM Programme countries, donor and
technical institutions, and NGOs in Bangkok, Thailand, for a four
day Global IPM Meeting (August 31 - September 3, 1993). National
and international organizations represented at the meeting
included the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United
Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment
Programme, the International Rice Research Institute, the
Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau International, USAID, and the
national aid agencies of Australia, Netherlands, Switzerland, and
Denmark. Participating NGOs were the PAN Regional Centers for
Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, Francophone Africa, and
North America, CLADES, Save the Children, the Committee for
Agricultural Sustainability in Developing Countries, and World
Education.
In a constructive change from the past, pesticide industry
representatives were not invited, and participants wasted little
time debating the essentiality of pesticides to IPM and crop
protection. Instead, the Global IPM meeting began by recognizing
that alternative, ecological pest management can be applied
successfully on a large scale. Participants then discussed how
to accelerate implementation of existing technical knowledge, and
support farmer-trainer processes and management activities to
extend IPM in other regions and crops. Specific workshops focused
on cotton, cereals, vegetables and plantation crops.
The meeting also directly addressed the policy implications of
IPM for governments, including agricultural subsidies and credit,
pesticide regulations, protection of biodiversity, health and
education. Participants generated a list of recommended actions
to induce needed policy changes, and noted that many donors
supply and subsidize pesticide use as well. Development agencies
were urged instead to support IPM, including generation of
evidence required to support IPM, through research activities and
pilot projects. Many attendees stressed that IPM should not be
judged only in simple financial terms, (e.g. direct savings on
pesticides and yield changes), but also by the broader economic,
social and environmental benefits (e.g. foreign exchange savings,
health improvements) of ecological pest management, in contrast
to chemical pest control.
Participants at the Global Meeting also developed and agreed to
promote this "IPM Manifesto" within their countries and
organizations:
-- Recognize and train farmers as experts in IPM.
-- IPM is carried out by farmers (not for farmers).
-- Participatory research/training is essential to IPM.
-- Adopt IPM as national policy.
-- Eliminate pesticide subsidies.
-- Conduct "true costing" of pesticides (include externalities).
-- Eliminate WHO Category 1a and 1b and chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides.
-- Promote the development and adoption of environmentally friendly non-
chemical methods of pest management.
A summary and participants' list from the Global IPM Field Study
Tour and Meeting is now available from the FAO Intercountry
Programme for IPM in Asia headquarters in Manila. The summery
includes an overview of Study Tour host countries' IPM programs
and achievements, and the list of recommended policies and
actions and IPM Manifesto from the Global Meeting. A full set of
proceedings is also being prepared.
Sources: "Global IPM," FAO Intercountry Programme for IPM in
Asia, Manila, Philippines, 1993; "Informe: Reunion Global Sobre
MIP," Elsa Nivia, PAN Latin America Regional Center, Palmira,
Colombia, September 1993; notes of NGO participants at Global
Meeting.
Contact: Peter Kenmore or Kevin Gallagher, FAO Intercountry
Programme, P.O. Box 1864, Manila, Philippines. Tel: (63-2)
818-6478; Fax: (63-2) 810-9409; e- mail: IPM-MANILA@CGNET.COM
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