Bulletin 1: Promoting Integrated Pest Management (PIPM) project

IPM for healthy crops, more
yields and more incomes
Started in 2010, the Promoting Integrated Pest Management
(PIPM) project in Afghanistan is building the capacity of the
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and livestock (MAIL) to
shift from emergency mode of operations to a longer-term
sustainable approach to pest management in the country
through promotion of more sustainable, environment friendly
ecological practices of crop production.
Development of IPM facilitators and Master Trainers
The project conducted two four months, season-long Training of Trainers (TOT) Courses on IPM in rice, wheat,
melon, potato and vegetables, and trained 61 field level plant protection and extension officers from 11 north
and northeastern provinces of Afghanistan to work as facilitators to conduct Farmer Field School (FFS) to
develop the capacity of farmers in sustainable crop production and pest management.
28 staff from Plant Protection and Quarantine Directorate and the directorates of General Extension and
Research, and four students of the Agriculture Faculty of Balkh University attended the first TOT from 11 June
to 10 October 2011conducted at the Agriculture Research Farm in Dehdadi, Mazar. The staff are based in 7
north and northeastern provinces i.e., Balkh, Samangan,
Bamian, Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhsan and Fariab at
the Directorate of Agriculture, Irrigation and
Livestock (DAIL).The TOT was on IPM in rice,
vegetables and melon. The training started by
participants’ planting crops and ended by harvesting
those crops grown in 3 acres areas of the farm.
33 staff have been participating in the 2nd TOT at the
same place since 27 November 2011 with a two
months break in January and February 2012 due to
snowfall during the period. The TOT, which is on IPM
in wheat, potato, melon and rice, is expected to be
completed by the middle of June 2012. The
participating staff are from the same directories from
Bulletin 1| Promoting Integrated
Pest Management (PIPM) Project, 15 May 2012
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Advantages of SRI:
• Higher yields 5-17 tons/hectare or more
• Required less seed 5 – 6 kg/ha
• Need very less water
• No or less chemical inputs are required
• High quality grain
• Lesser costs/volume
• More pest resistance
• Resistant to lodging
• Cold tolerance
• Improve soil quality
• It has been applied successfully in many
Asian countries
The guiding principles of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
1. Early Transplanting
o
o
o
Plant young seedling, preferably 812 days when it has only two small
leaves
Young seedling establishes quickly
Young seedlings have more
duration for tillering.
2.
Careful transplanting of
single seedling
o
o
Plant only single seedling per hill
A single seedling can produce
more than 100 tillers
Be careful in planting, do not push
the seedlings too deep
It will affect the tillering
Plant immediately after uprooting
o
o
o
3. Wide Spacing
o
o
o
Plant in wider space 25 cm x 25
cm or more
It will lessen competition and
allow more root growth
Plants will thus be able to
produce more tillers and grow
healthily
5.
o
o
o
4.
Rotary weeding for
aerating the soil
o
o
Use rotary weeder for weeding
It will give more oxygen to the roots.
As a result there will be more roots
to take more nutrients from the soil
Do weeding 2 to 4 times
Start weeding immediately after
irrigation
o
o
Water
Management
Apply water when the
field dries up.
Do not keep the field
flooded more than 2 days.
It will affect root growth
and tillering
Keep the soil moist but
not saturated
Promoting Integrated Pest Management Project in Afghanistan
6.
Application of compost
or animal manure
Apply compost or animal manure
Apply them at least 2 weeks before
transplanting
o
There is no limit for compost,
apply as much as possible
While use of chemical increases yields, best results are
achieved when compost is applied. Thus apply organic
manure, instead of chemical fertilizers. It will increase soil
health and as a result, soil will be able to produce more
nutrients for plants.
o
o
11 north, northeast, and western provinces, i.e., Balkh, Samangan,Bamian, Baghlan, Takhar, Kunduz,
Badakhsan, Fariab, Juzjan, Sar-i-Pul and Herat. Along with the facilitators, the project has trained 8 National
Master Trainers to oversee the work of the facilitators and provide them with necessary technical backstopping
while conducting FFS.
The project in the upcoming period is planning to conduct 2 more TOTs, one from July to October 2012 in
Jalalabad and the other from March to June 2013 in Kabul to develop 70 more new facilitators, bringing the total
number of facilitators to 131 in the project.
Melon fly and pomegranate borer control
From June to September 2011, the project conducted systematic
action research on melon fly control and management with the
participation of farmers in Faryab province and Dehdadi
Agriculture Research Farm in Mazar and found bagging
(covering the melon with plastic/cloth bag) as the most cost
effective and successful method of controlling melon fly, the
most notorious pest of melon crop in Afghanistan.
During the same time, the project found the use of plastic mulch
is very effective in controlling weed and preserving soil moisture
successfully, without requiring any supplemental
irrigation. It promotes vigorous plant growth and
increases fruit setting.
The project is planning to conduct similar action research
on pomegranate borer control and management. A plan
has been made to conduct such research in Kandahar
province. The successful results of both melon fly and
pomegranate borer will be disseminated to farmers
through FFS.
Farmer Field School (FFS)
Generally, insects or diseases are not a problem in crop
production because they are part of the natural
agroecosystem. But when the number of a particular pest
insect becomes more and damaging to the crops, it is an
indication that there is something wrong within the
production system. There might be a problem of seed,
variety, planting time, water, weed or any given
management practices to the crops. Unless and until that
particular problem has been identified and solved, the pest
problems in true sense will never be solved.
FFS provides farmers with education on the entire
production system of crops using a non-formal approach
to education to build their capacity in successful crop
production and pest management. In FFS, farmers
participate in every week. They grow crops together and
monitor the growth of the crops on weekly basis, using an
agroecosystem analysis format. The changes found in the
weekly agroecosystem analysis provides them with a
unique opportunity to understand the interactions among plants, soil, water, weeds, pests, etc., and their
combined effect on the growth and management of the plants. Based on this understanding, they make decisions
on what management practices are most effective for better management of the crops.
Bulletin 1| Promoting Integrated
Pest Management (PIPM) Project, 15 May 2012
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The project has begun conducting FFS with all the 61 trained facilitators. 28 facilitators trained in the 1st TOT
have begun conducting FFS since November 2011, while the others (33) participating in the 2nd TOT have
begun their FFS since April 2012.
A total of 104 FFS are being conducted this time (as of May 2012) as presented in the table below. 2600 farm
households, averaging 25 per FFS, from 11 following provinces are regularly participating in these FFS on
weekly basis. These farmers constitute the direct beneficiaries of FFS, while the indirect beneficiaries will be
twice that number learning from the experience of the direct beneficiaries.
In 2013, the project plans to expand its
activities to other regions of the country,
especially to the East and Southeastern region
and conduct 200 new FFS covering fruit crops
as well. This will bring the total number of
FFS to be conducted by the project to 304 in
two years period from 2012-2013, building
sustainable capacity of 7,600 farm families
directly to raise their crop production and farm
incomes at least 50 to 100% with significant
reduction in production cost due to a reduction
in chemicals use, especially pesticides.
FFS, crops and participating households in 2011-12
To oversee the activities of FFS and the project
a two-layer coordination structure, involving
Central Coordination Team (CCT) and Area Coordination Team (ACT) is formed. The CCT is responsible for
preparation for annual plan and monitoring and periodic review of the project progress, while ACT is
responsible for technical backstopping to the facilitators and coordination of FFS activities at the provincial
level.
Exposure trip
The project organized an exposure trip to Bangladesh for 12
MAIL staff from 27 February to 9 March 2012 to visit various
IPM activities in Bangladesh, which has been implementing IPM
for more than 20 years. The team included the Director General of
General Extension Directorate, one senior member of Plant
Protection and Quarantine Directorate, 7 facilitators and 3 master
trainers from the IPM project. The visit provided an opportunity to
the team to interact with various levels of stakeholders including
senior government officials, facilitators, farmers and community
leaders to see how nationwide IPM and FFS programmes have
been planned and managed by the government of Bangladesh.
Another important feature of the visit was to see the linkage
between the extension and plant protection activities, especially how they are planned and delivered to the
communities in a coordinated manner. The visit will help improve the coordination, planning and management
capacity of the IPM and extension team in Afghanistan. The project also plans to organize two similar exposure
trips to other IPM programmes in the region in the coming year.
Higher studies on IPM
In February 2012, to develop long-term capacity of MAIL in IPM,
the project has sent 6 MAIL staff including one ex-FAO staff to
Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and
Sciences (SHIATS) at Allahabad in India to study two years
Master’s degree courses. Applications for another 5 staff have
already been submitted to Tamil Nadu Agriculture University also
in India for similar courses. The project is again planning to send
another 10 MAIL staff for higher studies to Faisalabad
Agriculture University in Pakistan. This will further increase the
qualified human resource and needed expertise with various
directorates of MAIL to run quality IPM programme in Afghanistan.
Bulletin 1| Promoting Integrated
SHIATS
Pest Management (PIPM) Project, 15 May 2012
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TOT participants are
preparing field studies
Easy weeding for wheat
Farmers in the field-day of
TOT
HE, Deputy Minister, Mr.
Ghuriani visiting the TOT
Promoting Integrated Pest Management Project (PIPM) in Afghanistan
(GCP/AFG/058/NOR)
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in collaboration with
the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), Afghanistan and with the
financial support of the Government of Norway
Bulletin 1| Promoting Integrated
Pest Management (PIPM) Project, 15 May 2012
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