SUSVEG-Asia

Context

Vegetable production in many parts of south Asia is characterised by networks of smallholder farmers.  This is particularly so in peri-urban areas where centres of production are associated with specific markets that facilitate transport of produce to urban areas.  Currently smallholder vegetable farmers rely on pesticides for control of serious pest and disease problems on their crops.  These pesticides are often used inappropriately with safety given a low priority.  The situation is exacerbated by the intensification of production that has removed many of the cultural practices previously applied to promote natural regulation of crop pests and diseases.  In recent years pesticides have become less effective in part because of poor application methodology but also because of under-dosing and use of inappropriate products, all of which have enabled target pests to become increasingly resistant (1).

Eggplant, for example, has long been regarded as a cheap vegetable in south Asia.  It is available throughout most of the year and as such is highly regarded by families on low income.  However, production has been seriously affected in many parts of south Asia because of the high cost and low efficacy of insecticides needed to ensure production of a viable crop.  In West Bengal, for example, insecticide applications frequently exceed three per week in the summer season, while in neighbouring Bangladesh pesticide applications have recently been found to be applied daily (2).  The target of this abuse of pesticides is the eggplant fruit and shoot borer, Leucinodes orbonalis Guenée that is the major insect pest of eggplant, Solanum melongena L. throughout Asia (3, 4, 5).  Excessive use of pesticides has resulted in the emergence of other secondary pests such as mites.  The situation is similar in tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. production where white fly, Bemisia tabaci, (18) and the polyphagous American bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, have become highly resistant to insecticides (6, 7, 8, 9).  At a technical level the pest and disease problems in vegetable production in south Asia are well understood and in principle Government recommendations and guidelines for controlling these pests are available (10). However, in practice farmers are more influenced by local pesticide dealers and the views of other farmers. 

The project will take an innovative approach to addressing the pollution and health risks associated with excessive pesticide use and the imbalance in fertiliser application (particularly excessive use of nitrogen) by addressing the issues at a number of levels.  Previous experience has shown that development of pest control technologies without input from farmers rarely achieves impact (11).  Accordingly the project will act to set up a number of farmer participatory trials in which a range of currently available alternatives to conventional pesticides and fertilisers will be used.  Farmers will be provided with a range of seeds for self-selection, assistance with fertiliser use and recommendations on pest and disease control options.  Environmentally acceptable and sustainable options will be encouraged such as the use of farm yield manure (FYM) and Azospirillum fertilisers, Trichoderma viride for soil-borne disease control and resistant varieties for pest control.  Regular meetings through farmer field schools (FFS) will provide a venue for educational purposes, exchange of views and continual assessment of the impact of the technologies used (12, 13).  Target crops and diseases will be identified prior to the trials through semi-structured interviews with farmers and options for control agreed at a local level with project partners (14).  Educational material for the FFS programme will be developed primarily by adapting currently available material with emphasis given to the role of natural regulatory processes.   Simultaneously, the project will undertake specific research to develop and adapt novel control technologies (15, 16, 17) for three key insect pests H. armigera, L. orbonalis and M. vitrata and these technologies will be incorporated into the ICM trial programme when optimised.  In addition a new tomato variety resistant to south Indian strains of leaf curl virus transmitted by T. tabaci, (18) will be field tested by farmers and its efficacy tested for use in Bangladesh.

In order to achieve its objectives the project will bring together appropriate and experienced organisations and individuals from the Government, State University and non-Governmental Development Organisation sectors to form a uniquely strong multidisciplinary team.  In particular the partners from south Asia have excellent track records in the development and implication of pest control technologies for use by smallholder farmers in vegetable production.

Deliverables from the project will demonstrate that ICM can provide an economically and environmentally viable alternative to currently used pest management options.  The project will create a framework for change that will be promoted both by the project, through publications and stakeholder meetings, and ultimately through the on-going activities of project partners.

References

1. Kabir, K. H., Baksh, M. E., Rouf, F. M. A., Karim, M. A. and Ahmed, A.  1996.  Insecticide usage pattern on vegetables at farmers’ level of Jessore region in Bangladesh:  A survey finding.  Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Research, 21, 241-254.
2. BARI 1995.  Annual Report 1993-94.  Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh.
3. Allam, M. A., Kameswara Rao P. & Krishnamurthy  Rao, B. H.  1982.   Chemical control of brinjal shoot and fruit borer, Leucinodes orbonalis Guen. with newer insecticides. Entomon. 7(2), 133-135.
4. Kuppuswamy, S. & Balasubramanian, M. 1980.  Efficacy of synthetic pyrethroids against brinjal fruit borer, Leucinodes orbonalis Guen. S. Indian Hort. 28(3), 91-93.
5. Purohit, M. L. & Khatri, A. K. 1973.  Note on the chemical control of L. orbonalis (Guen) (Lepidoptera: Pyraustidae) on brinjal.  Indian J. Agric. Sci. 43, 214-215.
6. Forrester, N. W., Cahill, M, Bird, L. J. & Layland, J. K. 1993. Management of pyrethroid and endosulphan resistance in Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Australia. Bull. Entomol. Res. Supplement No.1.
7. Armes, N.J. & Raheja, A.K. 1996.  Status of insecticide resistance in cotton pests in India.  In:  International workshop on cotton pest resistance management, Beijing.  Chinese National Agro-Technical Extension and Service Centre and China-EU Centre of Agricultural Technology, pp 25-35.
8. Dennehy, T.J., Williams, L., Russell, J.S., Li, X. and Wigert, M. 1996  Monitoring and management of whitefly resistance to insecticides in Arizona. Proceedings 1996 Beltwide Cotton Production Conference, National Cotton Council of America, Memphis. Pp 135-40
9. Heckel, D.G.; Gahan, L.J.; Gould, F.; Daly, J.C.; Trowell, S.; 1997 Genetics of Heliothis and Helicoverpa resistance to chemical insecticides and to Bacillus thuringiensis. Pesticide Science, 51, 251-258.
10. Anonymous.  1999.  Manual on Crop Production techniques of Horticultural Crops.  Department of Horticulture and Plantation Crops and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
11. Cork, A. (1998)  Pheromones for control of yellow stem borer in India:  Does mating disruption meet the needs of the rice the cultivator?  Proceedings of the Sixth Australasian Applied Entomological Research Conference, 29 September - 2 October 1998, Brisbane. Pp. 304-313.
12. Mengesha, A., and Bull, M. 1997   Starting with local knowledge in participatory research, pp. 115-126  in Van Velhuisen, L., Waters-Bayer, A., Ramirez, R., Johnson, D.A., and Thompson, J., (eds)  Farmers Research in Practice.
13. Thompson, J. and Scoones, 1994, Challenging the populist perspective: rural people's knowledge, agricultural research, and extension practice, in Agriculture and Human Values.   Springer Verlag.
14. Sutherland, A. 1998. Participatory research in natural resources, Socio-economic Methodologies Patel, R. K. and Yadav, D. N. 1992. Impact of intercropping marigold on Heliothis armigera Hübner and its natural enemies in seed crop of tobacco. Tobacco Res. 18, 65-72.
15. Cork, A., Alam, S. N., Das, A., Das, C. S., Ghosh, G. C., Phythian, S., Farman, D. I., Hall, D. R., Maslen, N. R., Vedham, K., Rouf, F. M. A., and Srinivasan, K. Female sex pheromone of Brinjal fruit and shoot borer, Leucinodes orbonalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae): Blend optimization. Journal of Chemical Ecology, in press.
16. Colazza, S, Critiana Rosi, M. & Clemente, A. 1997.  Response of egg parasitoid Telenomus busseolae to sex pheromone of Sesamia nonagrioides.  Journal of Chemical Ecology, 23, 2437-2444.
17. Marion-Poll F. & Descoins C. 2001. Taste detection of phytoecdysteroids in larvae of three moth species. Journal of Insect Physiology (accepted).
18. Banks, G.K., Colvin, J., Chowda Reddy, R.V., Maruthi, M.N., Muniyappa, V., Venkatesh, H.M., Kiran Kumar, M., Padmaja, A.S., Beitia, F.J. & Seal, S.E. (2001)  First report of the Bemisia tabaci B biotype in India and an associated tomato leaf curl virus disease epidemic.   Plant Disease, 85, 231; published on-line as D-2000-1218-01N, 2000.