Abstract
This chapter describes a research and outreach effort to develop and diffuse IPM packages for potatoes in highland Ecuador. Potato production in Carchi is essential for livelihoods of small-scale producers and these producers face growing pest problems. The research project identified key pest constraints, worked with farmers and local scientists to develop and test appropriate IPM technologies, and created packages tailored to farmer needs. The research was especially relevant because farmers in the area were using large quantities of highly toxic chemicals as a part of their pest-control regimes and human and environmental health were suffering as a result. The partnership with an ongoing research-outreach effort, ability to leverage prior research findings, and participatory engagement of local stakeholders all contributed to the project’s success. Emergence of new pests and changing potato market conditions are the main threats to long-term viability of the IPM packages, but they have spread into many potato farming communities in Carchi Province.
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Notes
- 1.
In 2003, it was estimated that pesticide expenditures represented between 12 % and 20 % of potato production costs in Carchi (Barrera et al. 2004)
- 2.
The Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program (IPM-CRSP), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was an important research partner in this effort.
- 3.
Fortipapa (Fortalecimiento de la investigación y producción de semilla de papa en Ecuador) began in 1992 with funding from the Swiss Development Agency (COSUDE). This project was a long-standing collaboration between MAGAP, Ecuador’s National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP) and the International Potato Center (CIP).
- 4.
The Pesticide Evaluation Report and Safer Use Action Plan (PERSUAP) was a requirement of all USAID-funded projects using significant amounts of chemicals. The purpose of the Plan is to comply with USAID regulations and to provide project personnel with tools to better manage field operations.
- 5.
Carbofuran could not be used as an experimental control due to the PERSUAP regulations.
- 6.
In USD 2003.
- 7.
IPM knowledge can be considered a public good, because if one farmer uses it, he/she cannot prevent other farmers from also using it; his/her benefits from use are also not affected by adoption by neighboring farmers. These conditions lead to the well-known outcome in the economics literature that the private sector will undersupply a public good.
- 8.
Farmers are purposively selected for participation in FFS, based on individual dynamism, willingness to learn and experiment, and leadership in the community. FFS provide intensive training to a few farmers, with the idea that this knowledge will spread due to the dynamism of the participants (Feder et al. 2004).
- 9.
Evaluations of the FFS have shown that, immediately following the completion of the FFS, participants are more knowledgeable about pests and pest-management practices than non-participants (Feder et al. 2004; Gotland et al. 2004). There is very little evidence that this knowledge is durable. A recent review shows that FFS have changed agricultural practices and raised yields in pilot projects, but have not been effective when taken to scale (Waddington and White 2014).
- 10.
IPM adoption is a continuum and the study constructed categories of adoption from low to high adoption based on the number and complexity of practices still in use (Carrion et al. 2016).
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Carrion, V., Gallegos, P., Barrera, V., Norton, G.W., Alwang, J. (2016). IPM Technologies for Potato Producers in Highland Ecuador. In: Muniappan, R., Heinrichs, E. (eds) Integrated Pest Management of Tropical Vegetable Crops. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0924-6_10
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