Farmers' hands on: alternatives to local pesticides
The problems related to the use of pesticides are obvious. The widely accepted necessity for sustainable development will meet one of its greatest challenges in developing ecologically sound crop protection measures.
Fortunately, there is hope: awareness is rising and more and more farmers, field organizations and some research institutes are working on alternatives that are not or less detrimental to human health and the environment. In this Newsletter we have attempted to present some these ‘sign of hope’.
Table of contents:
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3 - 5written by Kudzo AgbeveWhat to do when pesticides don’t know when to stop killing? After two schoolboys died, the village in Southern Ghana immediately stopped spraying with chemicals. But what else then? Kudzo Agbeve describes how farmers try alternatives (and get more income) to have no need for chemical herbicides anymore. Rural and illiterate farmers will become experts in LEISA technologies.
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6 - 8written by Heraldo Amaral , Denis SautierAt a workshop on alternatives to pesticides, Brazilian farmers working together with technicians of FASE remembered the use of the "Bordeaux mixture" to control pests. But why does research put so much emphasis on combating pests and not on diversifying the farming system?
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9 - 11written by GK UpawansaFor centuries old cultural practices like religious ceremonies have been enshrined with scientific value and wisdom. But they are being damaged by 'advanced' scientific agricultural practices. G.K. Upawansa displays the wealth of indigenous Sri Lankan agriculture and proposes to turn to the ancient methods for modern dilemmas.
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12 - 14written by Melanda M. Hoque , Candida B. AdallaWomen are responsible for choosing and buying pesticides during their trips to the markets. Working with a "bottom-up" approach and involving women resulted in a decrease of insecticide sprays in upland rice from 4-6 to 0-2. Boys are trained as 'IPM Scouts' to assist the farmers in consolidating the gains. The case of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Women Project.
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15 - 17written by Sankung SagniaHow to control millet pests in the Sahel? Free supply of pesticides probably will come to an end, because of economic constraints and environmental problems. Sankung Sagnia outlines traditional pest control practices by Sahelian farmers and results of research. Together these represent a sound basis for IPM.
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18 - 19written by J. Teri , R.A. MohamedDiseases are limiting bean production, but Tanzanian farmers largely ignore high input technologies, because they do not suit their farming system. R. Mohamed and J. Teri urge to look at what farmers are already doing, as a basis for managing pests and diseases.
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20 - 22written by Evelyn Mathias & Paul MundyA growing number of researchers are learning from farmers to solve problems. On animal health care, this relates to traditional veterinary knowledge, which is called ethnoveterinary medicine. Only recently, Evelyn Mathias-Mundy wrote and annotated bibliography on ethnoveterinary. In this article she demonstrates the rich resource it offers for development. Ideas are given on how researchers and traditional healers can work together in development projects.
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23 - 24written by Berthold Schrimpf , Irene DziekanDue to a strong interest of farmers in Natural Crop Protection, training courses were started in 1988. It proves that farmers' experiences are a very rich source for adapted research. Results can be of great practical value for farmers. In this article, Berthold Schrimpf and Irene Dziekan present the latest results and describe how to make sprays.
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25 - 27written by Gaby Stoll , Apirut MakmonEffectiveness of botanical sprays is still difficult to evaluate. Now, the data to be collected are the observations from the farmers themselves. They are very interested and some farmers have stopped using chemicals completely. They base their crop protection now on botanicals only. Gaby Stoll and Apirut Makmon report on their on-farm experiments.
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28 - 28written by Sylvia Borg , Bart HommersenBefore he retired, Jaap Bakker worked with the Plant Protection Service in Wageningen, the Netherlands and with the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture. During that last job, he had to monitor the use of chemicals in agriculture. He got increasingly in conflict with himself: "is the environment not paying too high a price for the use of chemicals?" In his vegetable garden at home, he uses no chemicals. This article has been translated and reprinted with kind permission from 'Vruchtbare Aarde' (Fertile Soil), July 1989.
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29 - 33written by S. Sashi , Brian D'SilvaWhen there seems to be no remedy to control a pest, preventive measures may offer the solution. In this article, the authors show how analysing the problem may be a solution in itself. Individual efforts of farmers for control are useless, therefore the community must act together.
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34 - 34written by Bert LokhorstConcern over the misuse of pesticides has been mounting for more than a decade. In the developing world the situation is alarming. In most developing countries conditions for safe use do not exist. Moreover, highly hazardous pesticides, banned or severely restricted in industrialised countries, are widespread. PAN tries to break the vicious circle of poison.
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