Biodiversity Conference, Manado, Indonesia: July4-7, 2013

IAPPS — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:31:26 +0000

Conference in Indonesia highlights how biodiversity plays key role in successful sustainable agriculture programs

BLACKSBURG, Va., May 22, 2013 – When microscopic plant diseases and minuscule insects threaten farmers’ crops in the developing world, a Virginia Tech program responds.

The Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab keeps biodiversity in mind while developing environmentally friendly and economical management tactics.

“Virginia Tech is proud that we are having a direct impact on biodiversity through the IPM Innovation Lab,” says Guru Ghosh, vice president for International Affairs and Outreach at Virginia Tech.

The program is organizing a conference, “Biodiversity and Integrated Pest Management: Working Together for a Sustainable Future,” in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, July 4 through 7.

Small pests, big problems

The multimillion dollar program, funded by the U. S. Agency for International Development, has been housed at Virginia Tech since 1993. The program works with an international group of scientists and researchers to develop sustainable pest management methods, reducing crop losses and improving livelihoods for farmers in 16 tropical and subtropical countries.

The program’s pest management techniques seek to maintain biodiversity by lowering pesticide use and, in some cases, eliminating it completely. Pests targeted by the program range from microscopic pathogens transmitted by insects to plant feeding caterpillars, many of which are invasive or not native to areas in which they are a problem. The program’s tactics work to manage these pests while maintaining a level of biological harmony.

The program has been working in Indonesia since 2004 with a team led by faculty from Clemson University. The program’s success led to an additional $400,000 award from USAID in 2013.

Biodiversity concerns

On May 22, many around the world recognize the annual United Nations-declared International Day for Biological Diversity.

“It is our responsibility as stewards of the planet to work toward sustaining biodiversity every day,” says Michael Bertelsen, executive director of the Office of International Research, Education, and Development, the unit managing the program. “Any agriculture- and environmental-related efforts in international development must consider biodiversity when planning programs.”

Indonesia and Alfred Russel Wallace

The conference site, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, has long been appreciated for its great biodiversity. Alfred Russel Wallace, the famed 19th century British naturalist, spent considerable time in this region, collecting various kinds of insects and birds throughout the island of Sulawesi, and 2013 represents the 100th anniversary of his death. Many of his ideas on evolution and natural selection, which paralleled those of Charles Darwin, were crystallized from his observations of high speculation in this area.

The conference will highlight the island’s rich ecological history through field trips in the surrounding area.

“There is a need for integrated pest management practitioners and proponents of biodiversity to bring their ideas together,” says Rangaswamy “Muni” Muniappan, director of the program. “This conference is a way to facilitate this dialogue in Indonesia and beyond.”

Additional conference organizers include Clemson University, Sam Ratulangi University (Indonesia), and the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences. The keynote will be given by M. S. Swaminathan, the first World Food Prize laureate and a world-renowned agricultural scientist.

Varsity’s crop advice project helps farmers limit loss

IAPPS — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:34:36 +0000

From the Hindu Business Line by L. N. Revathy

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University’s e-Velanmai adopts technology to speed up crop-salvaging operations

COIMBATORE, MAY 17:

High yield is not just about timely sowing. Much also depends on receiving appropriate plant protection measures to limit crop loss, say farmers.

And these farmers had enrolled as members in the “e-Velanmai” (e-Agriculture) scheme offered by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. They were offered advisory services by agricultural scientists. According

Narrating his experience, V. Dhanasekaran of Thuravi Village in Villupuram district said: “I spotted the leaf spot disease in the groundnut crop I had cultivated on about 2 acres in my farm one morning. I immediately called the field coordinator who visited the farm, captured the image of the affected plants, and sent it to the scientist concerned for advice. Within two hours, the field coordinator returned with the prescription. I was able to save the crop and limit the yield loss.”

Another woman farmer, Sivakami, of Senjerimalai village, said she noticed aphids and pod borer pests in her avarai crop, which she had cultivated on about one acre. “I was advised to spray 250 gm of Acephate an acre. I later realised that I achieved 450 kg additional yield. But for the timely intervention, I would have lost completely.”

Many farmers said that they were pleased to receive the recommendation at their doorstep.

Farmers concede that prior to the introduction of eVelanmai project they depended on input dealers for crop protection guidance. “Now, there is social recognition and we are able to share the information with confidence,” said Latha of Valem village.

There were some who felt that they were unable to reap the benefit of the recommendation, possibly due to the unexpected rainfall after the spray, while a few others said that they were not sure if the pesticide prescribed by the expert was the same as the one issued by the input dealer.

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But the number of farmers enrolling themselves in this scheme is on the rise. From 1,181 in the pilot phase in 2007 -11, it has risen to over 12,000 now, says C. Karthikeyan, Project Coordinator of the eVelanmai scheme.

“It is an ICT (Information and Communication Technology) based, demand-driven participatory extension approach, seeking to provide timely advisory services (by scientists) to farmers using ICT tools,” said Karthikeyan, explaining the concept.

This World Bank-aided TN-IAMWARM project of the Government of Tamil Nadu has since been extended to 26 sub-basins (irrigation project command areas) in the State.

World Bank team is slated to review the project on May 20.

Karthikeyan meanwhile said that it has been proposed to recommend the project for adoption to the State Department of Agriculture.

Keywords: Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, e-Velanmai, technology, crop-salvaging operations, e-Agriculture scheme,

Scientists alarmed by rapid spread of Brown Streak Disease in cassava

IAPPS — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:18:04 +0000

From e! Science News http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/05/07/scientists.alarmed.rapid.spread.brown.streak.disease.cassava

via PestNet: Grahame Jackson

Published: Tuesday, May 7, 2013 – 11:36 in Earth & Climate

Cassava experts are reporting new outbreaks and the increased spread of Cassava Brown Streak Disease or CBSD, warning that the rapidly proliferating plant virus could cause a 50 percent drop in production of a crop that provides a significant source of food and income for 300 million Africans. The “pandemic” of CBSD now underway is particularly worrisome because agriculture experts have been looking to the otherwise resilient cassava plant — which is also used to produce starch, flour, biofuel and even beer — as the perfect crop for helping to feed a continent where growing conditions in many regions are deteriorating in the face of climate change.

“Cassava is already incredibly important for Africa and is poised to play an even bigger role in the future, which is why we need to move quickly to contain and eliminate this plague,” said Claude Fauquet, a scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (known by its Spanish acronym CIAT) who heads the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP21). “We are particularly concerned that the disease could spread to West Africa and particularly Nigeria — the world’s largest producer and consumer of cassava — because Nigeria would provide a gateway for an invasion of West Africa where about 150 million people depend on the crop.”

Fauquet and his colleagues in the GCP21 — an alliance of scientists, developers, donors and industry representatives — are gathering at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy this week for a conference dedicated to “declaring war on cassava viruses in Africa.”

A “Silent Killer” Emerges: CBSD on Warpath from East to West

First identified in 1935 in East Africa and little-known until about ten years ago, CBSD has emerged as the most serious threat among the various cassava viruses. Infections can claim 100 percent of a farmer’s harvest without the farmer’s knowledge. The leaves of infected plants can look healthy even as the roots, cassava’s most prized asset, are being ravaged underground. The tell-tale signs of the disease are brown streaks in the root’s flesh that, when healthy, provides a rich source of dietary carbohydrates and industrial starchy products.

There have been recent reports of new outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — the world’s third largest cassava producer — and Angola, where production has boomed in recent years. The spread of the disease to West Africa and particularly Nigeria is a major cause for concern, experts say, because the country now produces 50 million tons of cassava each year and has made a big bet on cassava for its agricultural and industrial development in the near future.

Nigeria is the first African country to massively invest in the potential of cassava to meet the rapidly growing global demand for industrial starches, which are used in everything from food products to textiles, plywood and paper. Nigeria hopes to mimic the success of countries in Southeast Asia, where a cassava-driven starch industry now generates US$5 billion per year and employs millions of smallholder farmers and numerous small-scale processors.

CMD — a Scourge for Cassava on the African Continent

Scientists at the conference will also consider options for dealing with another devastating virus — the Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD). CMD has plagued the whole African continent for over a century, each year removing a minimum of 50 million tons of cassava from the harvest.

The disease is caused by several viruses and the African continent witnessed several major CMD epidemics over the past decades, the most recent and devastating of which occurred in the 1990s in East and Central Africa. Great success was achieved in combating the CMD pandemic through developing and disseminating varieties that were resistant to CMD. In fact, by the mid-2000s, half of all cassava farmers were benefiting from these varieties in large parts of East and Central Africa. But by a cruel twist of nature, both improved and local varieties all succumbed to the ‘new’ pandemic of CBSD.

Unexpected Plot Twist: Whiteflies Ambush a Climate-Resilient Crop

Interest in cassava has intensified across Africa as rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns caused by climate change threaten the future viability of food staples such as maize and wheat. Cassava has been called the “Rambo root” for its extraordinary ability to survive high temperatures and tolerate poor soils. But rising temperatures now pose a threat to cassava because they appear to be one of several factors causing an explosion in whiteflies, which carry the viruses that cause CMD and CBSD and pass it along as they feed on the plant’s sap.

Compounding the effects of rising temperatures, scientists also think that genetic changes have led to the emergence of “super” whiteflies. This toxic mix of circumstances affecting a tiny fly threatens to shoot down the “Rambo root,” bringing the misery of food insecurity to vast swathes of Africa.

“We used to see only three or four whiteflies per plant; now we’re seeing thousands,” said James Legg, a leading cassava expert at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). “You literally have a situation where human beings are competing for food — with whiteflies.”

Farmers also help spread the disease by planting new fields with infected stem cuttings. Scientists note that while it would take several years for the disease to spread across the continent via whiteflies alone, infected stem cuttings could spark outbreaks in new areas overnight.

Experts to Develop Plan to Stop Viruses in their Tracks

At the Italy meeting, experts will discuss a variety of tactics for combating virus diseases, such as developing more disease-resistant varieties like those recently released in Tanzania. Efforts to breed high-yielding, disease-resistant plants suitable for Africa’s various growing regions will involve going to South America, where cassava originated, and working with scientists to mine the cassava gene bank at CIAT in Colombia — the biggest repository of cassava cultivars in the world.

The expert team will also discuss a more ambitious plan: how to eradicate cassava viruses altogether. The aim will be to develop a bold regional strategy that will gradually, step-by-step, village-by-village, replace farmers’ existing infested cassava plants with virus-free planting material of the best and most resistant available cultivars. Approaches will include new molecular breeding and genetic engineering technologies to speed up the selection and production of CMD and CBSD resistant cassava cultivars more appealing to farmers.

There also will be discussions about cost-effective and environmentally sustainable ways to control whiteflies, as well as proposals for new surveillance systems that can better track and stop the disease from spreading. Scientists will also discuss new research into the potential threat African cassava producers face from the introduction of new diseases currently found outside the continent.

“It’s time for the world to recalibrate its scientific priorities,” Fauquet said. “More than any other crop, cassava has the greatest potential to reduce hunger and poverty in Africa, but CBSD and other viruses are crippling yields. We need to treat CBSD and other destructive viruses like the smallpox of cassava — formidable diseases, but threats we can eradicate if everyone pulls together.”

IPM CRSP FY 2012 Annual Report

IAPPS — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:15:17 +0000

IPM CRSP FY 2012 annual report is available at the link:

http://www.oired.vt.edu/ipmcrsp/Publications/AnnualReports/2012/

Muni

R. Muniappan

Director, IPM IL (CRSP)

Virginia Tech

526 Prices Fork Road

Blacksburg, VA 24061, U.S.A.

Ph: 540-231-3516

Fax: 540-231-3519

E-Mail: rmuni@vt.edu

http://www.oired.vt.edu/ipmcrsp/

Research show tomato-potato psyllid can survive harshest Winter conditions

IAPPS — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:58:03 +0000

New research conducted in the major potato growing regions of the United States, has found that the Tomato-potato psyllid (TPP) – a highly destructive pest affecting potato crops – can survive even the harshest of winter conditions.

“Despite it being an extremely cold winter in some of the key potato regions of the United States earlier this year, researchers there identified living psyllids in these areas, proving just how resilient this highly destructive pest can be,” said AUSVEG Spokesperson, Luke Raggatt.

“These findings from the US reaffirm how critical the research and development (R&D) work that is being conducted on the TPP within the Australian potato industry continues to be for growers and processors alike,” said Mr Raggatt.

Amongst Australian research on the TPP is a project currently being conducted by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA), which is monitoring the distribution and prevalence of native psyllid populations in key potato growing areas across Eastern Australia using sticky traps. The use of the traps aims to provide the industry with an effective early warning system for incursions of the TPP, which is not currently found in Australia.

“It is critical that the Australian potato industry remains vigilant to ensure that it can swiftly and effectively identify a potential outbreak of the Tomato-potato psyllid,” said Mr Raggatt.

“While Australia is currently free from the psyllid, there is a real possibility of the pest entering our shores through a number of different means, including the transit of plant materials arriving from affected countries such as the US or New Zealand,” said Mr Raggatt.

R&D activities in Australia conducted in this area have included an investigation into the role of psyllids as vectors of disease; raising the awareness of Zebra Chip disease within the industry; developing rapid diagnostic tools for the detection of pathogens associated with Zebra Chip; and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies that would help to control the psyllid.

“In the last few years, the Australian potato industry has invested heavily in a range of R&D projects in an attempt to ensure that potato growers and processors are in a position to deal with this devastating pest and its associated disease, should it arrive here in the future,” said Mr Raggatt.

“Research findings from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, have all re-enforced how much there is still to learn about the behaviour of the TPP and the spread of the destructive disease that it harbours,” said Mr Raggatt.

The US research was conducted by the Idaho, Washington State and Oregon Potato Commissions.

For more information:
Luke Raggatt
AUSVEG
Tel: +61 (03) 9822 0388
Mob: +61 0403 827 822
luke.raggatt@ausveg.com.au

Publication date: 4/26/2013

Climate Change Brews up Trouble for Coffee

IAPPS — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:18:39 +0000

A worker scoops coffee beans at Kiandu factory in Tetu, Nyeri. Shifting weather patterns signal reduced output for Kenya’s coffee and tea growers. Photo/Joseph Kanyi

By NGONDI MBURU

As the world grapples with climate change, Kenya coffee and tea farmers are being forced to wake up to the reality of these new conditions as scientists paint grim prospects for the cash crops.

Scientists warn that this change is permanent and may force growers to drastically change their farming methods, including the type of crops. Experts predict that certain tea and coffee-growing areas will no longer be viable by 2050.

“The central region will become less viable for coffee due to drier weather while the western one will become more suitable due to increased precipitation,” said Patrick Kimari, a researcher with Kimathi University College of technology in Nyeri.

Dr Kuria Thiong’o, a geomatic engineering and geospatial information scientist at the university noted that tea-growing will also be forced towards the higher regions due to drier weather patterns.

But most of these areas are protected forest, which means that tea will slowly be forced out of production, he added.

Inability to quantify the extent of expected changes mainly due to lack of research into the field have shrouded climate change in ambiguity and as a result, no clear-cut mitigation policies have been formulated.

But on the ground, farmers are already experiencing the harsh effects of climate change with a host of new challenges previously not experienced.

Every year it is going from bad to worse. Sometimes the rain is too much and sometimes it comes at a time when it is not anticipated while at other times it is very hot when it should be raining,” said Mr Paul Mugo a tea farmer from Keru in Kiriaini.

The latest example of the grave effects of climate change was the frost that hit most tea- growing areas in the country, causing heavy losses.

“We only used to hear of frost. It has now hit us in a big way,” said Mr Mugo who owns 3,000 tea bushes on his three-quarter- acre farm.

The frost was caused by high temperatures during the day followed by low temperatures during the night, forming a blanket of frost that settled on tea.

In Murang’a and Nyeri, a combination of frost and the dry weather that followed led to a 20 per cent drop in production.

Since no one expected that such a phenomenon would occur as a result of climate change, the losses were heavy despite the availability of simple mitigation measures such as trees which can provide a sink for the frost blanket.

“My field was not affected because I have planted a lot of trees. But in my neighbour’s farm for example, there was no harvest because of the frost and the heat that followed after the frost,” said Mr John Mwaniki from Iriaini in Othaya district.

Jane Nyambura from Ethical Tea Partnership, a non-commercial consortium of tea buyers and packers from Australia, UK and the US noted that the changing weather was expected to lead to new pests and crop diseases.

72,000 Ladybugs Released in Mall of America

IAPPS — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:57:42 +0000

From Marc Lallanilla, LiveScience Assistant Editor:

Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home, the nursery rhyme advises.

And some 72,000 ladybugs have found a home within the Mall of America, where mall managers have released the insects inside the fully enclosed shopping and entertainment complex.

The Bloomington, Minn., mall, which is so huge it could hold seven Yankee Stadiums, also has more than 30,000 live plants, including about 400 trees, which act as natural air purifiers for the indoor mall.

But aphids — the pesky insects that feed on plants — thrive inside the Mall of America’s many landscaped areas.

Aphids, however, have a natural enemy: Ladybugs, members of the coccinellid family of beetles, which are valued by gardeners for their habit of eating pests like aphids.

“Ladybugs are what I like to call, sort of a biological defense system,” Lydell Newby, the Mall of America’s senior manager of environmental services, told local news station KARE 11.

The mall has released ladybugs in the past as an alternative to commercial pesticides, the International Business Times reports.

Though some shoppers have complained that the ladybugs might fly onto food, a mall spokesperson noted that the insects tend to spend their lives on plants, not human food.

Ladybugs (sometimes called “ladybirds”) make ideal pest control agents inside an enclosed area like a mall or a greenhouse, Treehugger notes. In an outdoor garden, however, they’re likely to disperse.

Ladybug populations throughout North America have been changing rapidly, for reasons that may include climate change and land-use patterns. The Lost Ladybug Project is an effort (partly funded by the National Science Foundation) to track the insects’ population across the continent.

The Mall of America has other green initiatives: It converts its restaurants’ fryer fat into biodiesel fuel for the mall’s security vehicles, according to the site’s MOABlog.

And though it’s located in the Twin Cities area (known for brutal winter weather), the complex has no central heating system. Instead, it uses passive solar heat from its 1.2 miles of skylights to warm the space.

Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

AAIS 20th BIANNUAL MEETING AND SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT DATES: 27th –31st October

IAPPS — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:51:45 +0000

THEME : Global change and impacts on insect biodiversity: Integrated pest and disease vectors management in Africa

SUB‐THEMES:
1. Impact on Beneficial Insects, Pests and Vectors of Diseases.
2. New Challenges in Integrated
3. Knowledge Sharing and Networking
4. Biotechnology, Genetically Modified
5. Education and Capacity Reinforcement in Integrated Insect Pest and Vector Management.
6. Biodiversity and Insect Taxonomy
7. Integrated Storage Pest Management

Click here for more information (pdf)

Invasive weeds could shed light on climate-coping

IAPPS — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:51:19 +0000

From Pestnet 3/15/2013

March 13, 2013 by Kate Frazer

Invasive weeds could shed light on climate-coping. Velvetleaf, shown here, is a serious crop pest causing millions of dollars in damage annually in North America.

(Phys.org) —In the race to adapt to climate change, weeds may be the winners. Understanding their well-honed coping mechanisms could inform strategies for ecological management, says a Cornell crop and soil researcher.

While other species are expected to suffer from environmental fluctuations, changes in temperature may help invasive weeds expand their ranges. Many weeds are capable of relatively rapid genetic change as well, further enhancing their ability to colonize new areas. The findings stem from the study, “Predicting Weed Invasion in Canada Under Climate Change: Evaluating Evolutionary Potential,” published in the Canadian Journal of Plant Science (92:2012) by weed ecologist Antonio DiTommaso, associate professor of crop and soil sciences and the Richard C. Call, Director of Agricultural Sciences, and biologist David Clements of Trinity Western University. “The standard modeling approach treats plants like static entities,” DiTommaso said. “But changes in weed distributions may also reflect evolutionary change in the plants themselves. We’ve already seen them change in response to human influences such as farming practices.” For many years, scientists thought weeds would not develop herbicide resistance on a comparable scale to the insecticide resistance that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s; now, herbicide resistance is widespread, showing weeds have a strong potential to evolve in the presence of intense selection pressure, DiTommaso said. In the study, the researchers looked at four different weed species—Himalayan balsam, velvetleaf, Japanese knotweed and johnsongrass—that were expanding their ranges northward within North America. They observed evidence for potential evolutionary responses to climate change in each species, despite population genetic differences.

Matured, the weed can physiologically adjust to drought conditions, a powerful adaptive trait that could allow substantial expansion of its current range.

DiTommaso said that the study’s findings will help address the spread of weeds and the economic and ecological damage it could cause. He’s also intrigued by what weeds can teach us about inhabiting and restoring degraded areas.

Feed the Future: Integrated Pest Management in South Asia

IAPPS — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:06:16 +0000

Innovation That’s Making a Difference: Integrated Pest Management in South Asia

March 14, 2013

Marty McVey, USAID Board for International Food and Agricultural Development | Feed the Future | Blog

Marty McVeyMarty McVey learns more about the IPM Innovation Lab’s work in tomato grafting with Rangaswamy Muniappan of Virginia Tech .

The Hon. Marty McVey is a member, appointed by the U.S. president, of USAID’s Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD).

The BIFAD advises and makes recommendations to the USAID Administrator on food security, development efforts, and implementation of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. It also monitors progress.

During his second trip in January with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab: Collaborative Research on Integrated Pest Management (formerly the Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program), McVey visited food security projects in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. India is a strategic partner with Feed the Future, and Bangladesh and Nepal are Feed the Future focus countries.

We asked McVey a few questions about his visit and the exciting collaborations and progress he observed.

First, tell us a little about your trip. Where did you go and why were you there?

I accompanied a team of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Innovation Lab personnel from Virginia Tech, Penn State, and the Ohio State University to South Asia to review the activities of the IPM Innovation Lab in this part of the world. I attended workshops, regional planning meetings, toured facilities of private sector and NGO partners), and met with U.S. Ambassadors, USAID Mission directors, partner scientists, farmers, and members of farming cooperatives in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

The purpose of my trip was to see how Feed the Future’s goals are being accomplished, particularly through the work of the IPM Innovation Lab with its many partners and programs in South Asia. What I learned was encouraging.

Who did you spend time with during the trip? How did you see various food security actors, particularly from the research community, interacting and working together to achieve Feed the Future goals on the ground?

In Bangladesh, scientists from all three countries I visited, as well as representatives from USAID and The World Vegetable Center, attended a regional planning meeting for the IPM Innovation Lab’s Southeast Asia project. Interaction among scientists from the United States and host countries was lively and facilitated collaboration.

While visiting with the vice chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in India and our partnering scientists at that institution, I observed their strong commitment to working with us to foster increased use of organic farming methods.

In India, scientists from Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, and Guatemala—supported by Feed the Future through the IPM Innovation Lab—attended a biocontrol workshop centered on the use of Trichoderma (a beneficial fungus used to attack fungi with deleterious effects) and Pseudomonas (a beneficial bacterium). Each of the scientists gave a presentation on the work they were doing in their home country. Through this kind of support, Feed the Future is exponentially expanding its impact and providing opportunities for scientists to learn new techniques. Those scientists then return home and share what they’ve learned, which translates to better in-country capacity.

The IPM Innovation Lab has also partnered with the Biocontrol Research Lab, a private company in India that produces biocontrol products to help farmers safely grow highly productive crops.

Through this partnership, farmers can learn about the benefits of using biocontrol methods to control pests and plant diseases and with the increased income they generate through these methods they are able to expand their use of such products. Companies find a viable niche in the economy. Everybody wins: Farmers increase their incomes without depleting or harming the soil and environment, companies are successful, and local communities have more and healthier produce to buy and consume. Public-private partnerships like this are helping to ensure that food security efforts in India are sustainable.

In each country I visited, the USAID Missions were pleased with the work of the IPM Innovation Lab and expressed that IPM Innovation Lab efforts are helping to achieve impact in advancing food security. In Bangladesh and Nepal, they are working to implement IPM packages (a set of techniques designed for a particular crop) in Feed the Future target regions.

What impact did you see the IPM Innovation Lab having? How was it making a difference?

In Nepal, pheromone trap technology introduced by the IPM Innovation Lab is helping coffee producers manage the white stem borer of coffee, a serious pest in the region. Classical biocontrol of the papaya mealybug, thanks to an IPM Innovation Lab initiative, has restored production of papaya, mulberry, cassava, eggplant, and other crops to the pre-incidence level in southern India. And in Bangladesh, the IPM Innovation Lab helped successfully reverse the decline in eggplant production, a staple crop, by introducing eggplant grafting in 2004 to combat bacterial wilt. The farmers were very appreciative of this initiative.

The adoption of Trichoderma and Pseudomonas in vegetable farming in India is extensive. In Bangladesh, Trichoderma is produced with compost and distributed to farmers. The adoption of culture to attract and kill the melon fly on bitter gourd farms in Bangladesh is also very popular. The popularization of Trichoderma throughout the tropical world is spectacular and should be continued as it makes such a difference in the lives of smallholder farmers.

From your tweets, it looks like you spent some time with smallholder farmers. How was the IPM Innovation Lab working with them, particularly women farmers? What did the farmers have to say?

There are many success stories coming out of these countries regarding integrated pest management (IPM) thanks to the involvement of the IPM Innovation Lab. The farmers themselves are perhaps the most inspiring.

One of the biggest stories for me was my colleague’s account of a visit to a village near Kathmandu, Nepal. In this small village, women have been so successful at using IPM techniques that they are able to buy clothes for their children, pay for more schooling for them, and even build houses with the extra income they generate.

At another farmers’ cooperative, I learned that while it only has 27 members, 500 people benefit from the work of the organization. A woman sits at the head of this group. The members of this organization are able to make small loans to other members, allowing them to buy materials for building greenhouses, drip irrigation systems, sticky traps, or pheromones. All of this is allowing women farmers to sustainably grow more and healthier produce.

At a coffee plantation in Nepal I heard this story repeated: “Ninety percent of the beans that we grow are of better quality since we started using IPM techniques,” one woman said. And I learned from our collaborating partner in Nepal, iDE, that it focuses on working with women because they’re more reliable and committed than the men, and they are also better savers.

What encouraged you most about this trip, the projects you saw, and the people you met?

I was most inspired by the difference that Feed the Future, through the IPM Innovation Lab, is making in the lives of women farmers. I saw this with the women agricultural students and farmers who I met at the Sri Avinashilingam Krishi Vigyan Kendra University in India and with the women farmers who I met in Nepal.

Women farmers see firsthand how using biocontrol methods produces vegetables and crops that are safer and of better quality. They are using the extra income to improve the lives of their families. And they are forming organizations to extend the benefits to each other through loans. They’re also extending benefits beyond their organizations by working with other women’s cooperatives.

During my visit to the women’s agricultural university, I spoke to a large group of several hundred women farmers. It was encouraging to see these young women take a positive step for their own future and that of their communities by investing in themselves and in the future of agriculture through higher education. The university is set up such that it not only trains women in agriculture, but it also encourages small businesses by training students in activities such as fabric production and handcrafts.

What key messages will you take back to the BIFAD on the value/success of the IPM Innovation Lab?

Overall, the progress toward Feed the Future’s goals was encouraging.

South-South collaboration is strong and yielding results. The biocontrol workshop at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University was an example of this. By providing training to promising young scientists in other developing countries, the program is extending the benefits of IPM methods.

The research and practitioner community is flexible, responding to new challenges as they arise. Policy-makers sometimes lag behind. As scientists learn of new invasive pests and diseases, they are quick to adapt, figuring out new solutions to challenges on the ground. Government officials often lag behind in understanding the importance of acting quickly and red tape can slow effective techniques.

Women are making strides. Where women are allowed or encouraged to have agency in their lives, they are making a huge difference.

While adopting new strategies is risky for subsistence farmers, once they see results they become evangelists. To the subsistence farmer, new practices are suspect: If you are just barely getting by, why try something that may remove even that tiny profit altogether? And yet, from my visits to farming villages and through meeting with farmer collectives and speaking with farmers themselves, I learned that once a farmer sees (often through demonstration plots) that these new methods can work, they become enthusiastic advocates.

Public-private partnerships are promising. Public-private partnerships across the countries we serve through the IPM Innovation Lab were inspiring, with strong partners in every country that are helping create self-sustaining programs.

Change is incremental, but nonetheless effective. While we don’t always get a dramatic splash for our investments dollars in the developing world, it is money well spent. The smile on the face of a woman who has built a house using money she earned from IPM methods is invaluable. The pride of the young women embarking on higher level agricultural studies was inspiring. The enthusiasm of our scientist partners from developing countries attending the biocontrol workshop was gratifying as well. Often, as I mentioned above, it can be difficult to persuade a farmer to adopt new methods. But once we do, and are successful, word of mouth spreads to other farmers and villages and extends across a region. Over time, this has a huge impact.

Follow McVey on Twitter for more on his trip and future updates. McVey will brief the public on his trip at the BIFAD board of directors meeting this Friday, March 15. Check out the webcast on Friday. We’ll also post the meeting minutes later on the USAID website.

View more photos from McVey’s trip.