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CARE, 2003. Una Guía para Promover el Manejo de Plagas más Seguro y más Eficaz con los Pequeños Agricultores: una Contribución al Cumplimiento Ambiental de la USAID-APP, elaborado para el FRCT de CARE por Sarah Gladstone y Allan Hruska, Atlanta, Georgia.
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The temperature, the relative humidity (HR) and the light are variables that influence the development of plants and insects and affect considerably their own development. The study of the different stimulus’s effect on plants and animals is possible under controlled
conditions when the variables in question are regulated.
With this project we aim to obtain a suitable controller of temperature and relative humidity in a chamber, property of the Grupo de Investigaciones Agroindustriales (GRAIN), formerly used as meat maturation facility, in a way that ensures the proper environment for plants and insects, in order to obtain a better control over its development when experiments are made over them.
As a final product we obtained a graphic interface in both the PLC and the PC, which allows the user to set certain conditions of temperature and HR inside the chamber, with and without the requirement of an external computer for doing the control of these variables.
Changes in Government pesticide policy in Nicaragua from 1985 to 1989 (elimination of the 98% subsidy for pesticides) dramatically changed incentives for pesticide use and reduced pesticide use among smallholders.
Se revisó el archivo de preguntas y respuestas del Instituto Centroamericano de Extensión de la Cultura (ICECU), desde 1964 y se seleccionó en las áreas de Agricultura y de Animales los casos que sugieren soluciones libres de plaguicidas sintéticos, a los problemas de plagas. Los métodos más empleados son el uso de productos químicos no convencionales (39,9%), productos naturales (39,5%), y utilización de medidas de tipo físico (16,9%). Se presenta un resumen de las medidas de combate consideradas más prometedoras.
To assess the impact of training resource-poor maize farmers on the Pacific Plain of Nicaragua in the use of integrated pest management (IPM), 1,200 farmers received training during two years. CARE trained 13 extensionists and they provided intensive training to 60 promoter-farmers, who trained the 1,200 farmers. The farmers were trained in: the dangers of pesticides, recognition of the important organisms (pests and beneficials) in their fields, the biology and ecology of the organisms, how to determine pest population levels, how to choose the best method and product for control, and how to make decisions in the fields according to their new understanding and simple cost-benefit analysis. Three groups of farmers were monitored for two years: the intensively trained farmers (60 promoter-farmers), the trained farmers (1,200), and a group of "control" farmers who did not receive training during the first two years. After two years, the trained farmers used fewer pesticides, spent less money on pest control, made higher net returns, and suffered less exposure to cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides than did farmers who did not receive IPM training. In addition, a comparison of cholinesterase levels of farmers who used personal protective equipment showed no reduction of exposure to organophosphate insecticides, compared with farmers who did not use the equipment.
"An important, controversial account ... of the way in which man's use of poisons to control insect pests and unwanted vegetation is changing the balance of nature." Booklist.
SummaryA brief introduction to kidney structure and function is followed by a summary of the reasons for susceptibility of the kidney to chemically-induced injury. Examples of nephrotoxicants (metals, aminoglycosides, amphotericin B, chloroform, hexachlorobutadiene and tetrafluoroethylene) and their modes of toxic action are provided.
Throughout Central America, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School support a Safe Pesticide Use program. In 1993, a study of results was carried out among farmers and housewives in eastern Guatemala. Aspects of the methodology included: (1) participation of extension workers in all aspects of the study; (2) small, region-focused samples (eight cells, 30 interviews per cell); (3) comparison to control groups of untrained farmers and housewives; (4) a traditional questionnaire for studying acquisition of specific knowledge; and (5) a flexible instrument for building a cognitive map of knowledge and beliefs regarding pesticides. The cognitive map is a step toward applying modern psychocultural scaling, an approach already well developed for medicine and public health, to environmental problems. Positive results detected include progress at learning the meaning of colors on containers that denote toxicity and where to store pesticides. Pesticide application problems detected were mention by farmers of highly toxic, restricted pesticides as appropriate for most pest problems and of insecticides as the correct solution to fungus problems, and the widespread belief that correct pesticide dosage depends on number of pests seen rather than on land or foliage surface. Health-related problems detected were admission by a vast majority of housewives that they apply highly toxic pesticides to combat children's head-lice; low awareness that pesticides cause health problems more serious than nausea, dizziness, and headaches; and a common belief that lemonade and coffee are effective medicines for pesticide poisoning.
In studies in developing countries, closed systems for mechanically mixing and loading hazardous pesticides have been shown to reduce exposure to workers. To evaluate the efficacy of closed systems in preventing worker exposure in the developing world, a cross sectional study was conducted at rural crop dusting airports in the cotton growing region of Nicaragua. Worker exposure was evaluated by measuring the activity of erythrocyte cholinesterase in the field with a new design battery operated colorimeter. The 10 mixer loaders at four airstrips with closed systems were compared with the 16 mixer loaders at four airstrips where pesticides were hand poured. Paradoxically, cholinesterase activity was 1.1 IU/ml blood (95% Cl 0.49-1.8) lower (inhibited) among workers in airstrips with closed systems than among workers hand pouring insecticides, after adjusting for weight of organophosphates sprayed in the past 14 days, and for prior training in safe use of pesticides. Mixer loaders with prior training had cholinesterase activity 0.83 IU (95% Cl 0.30-1.4) higher than untrained workers, and the weight of organophosphates sprayed was also a statistically significant predictor in the model. Unfortunately, management viewed the closed systems primarily as a production tool, rather than as a way to protect workers. Airstrips with closed systems were able to apply an average of 3250 lb organophosphates per worker in the 14 days before the survey compared with 849 lb per worker in airstrips without closed systems. Only three of 10 mixer-loaders at airstrips with closed systems had received formal training in safer use of pesticides. Because of shortage of personnel and transport, it was difficult for the responsible government agencies to train workers adequately and to enforce pesticide health and safety standards at multiple dispersed worksites.
Abundant natural enemies in tropical Asian irrigated rice usually prevent significant insect pest problems. Integrated pest management (IPM) extension education of depth and quality is required to discourage unnecessary insecticide use that upsets this natural balance, and to empower farmers as expert managers of a healthy paddy ecosystem. Farmers' skill and collaboration will be particularly important for sustainable exploitation of the potential of new, higher-yielding and pest-resistant rice. IPM "technology transfer" through training and visit (T&V) extension systems failed, although mass media campaigns encouraging farmer participatory research can reduce insecticide use. The "farmer first" approach of participatory nonformal education in farmer field schools, followed by community IPM activities emphasizing farmer-training-farmer and research by farmers, has had greater success in achieving IPM implementation. Extension challenges are a key topic for rice IPM research, and new pest management technology must promote, rather than endanger, ecological balance in rice paddies.