What is integrated pest management?

Abstract

Integrated pest management is a system that combines different forms of biological, cultural and chemical control but minimizes the use of synthetic pesticides.

Notes

What is Integrated Pest Management? Suggested introduction Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a comprehensive system that allows the small-scale farmer to manage pest problems in an environmentally responsible way. It combines different forms of control and biological, cultural or chemical methods, while minimizing the use of synthetic pesticides, as Malik Ba, an entomologist at INERA in Ouagadougou, explains to Adama Zongo. Beginning of the tape: “We have moved from the reactive system to fight against … ” End of the tape: “…the right product at the right time and in the right place. Tape length: 5’54 End announcement: This program was brought to you by CTA. Transcript Ba We’ve gone from a reactive system for pest control to an active, preventive system. So this method is primarily based on education, so knowing the environment of the pest and therefore knowing its biology and ecology, we know when to intervene.

Zongo Let’s say that integrated pest management is a system. So what are its components? Ba You have cultural control methods that consist of either using the right amount of fertilizer, or managing field hygiene well. Then you have crop rotations that also allow you to deal with certain pests. There is also the use of resistant varieties for crops: using varieties that are less attacked and that is obtained by genetic crossbreeding by breeders who create new varieties that are more or less resistant to insects. You also have biological control which uses the natural enemies of pests and chemical control. Chemical control here means using insecticides in a reasoned way, i.e. where normally ten applications of insecticide are made, these applications of insecticide are reduced as much as possible in order to preserve the environment. Zongo There is a component called prevention, that is, before pests become a threat, so what should we do?

Ba Prevention is based on observation: not every living thing is a pest. You can have living things or pests on a plant, but until they reach a certain threshold, they are not considered harmful. So prevention here is education through observation to determine at what threshold a living thing in my field or garden is harmful.

So that’s essentially what prevention is all about, determining pest thresholds and then using those thresholds to take the necessary measures to control the pest. Zongo On the other hand, we talk about identification and surveillance. What does that mean? Ba Identification and monitoring means identifying the cause of the pest in the garden or field, and monitoring means knowing when the pest is present, based on laboratory studies. This is the case with rice crops, where INERA researchers who worked in the Gou Valley area showed that for an insect for which farmers were systematically treating, they had to wait until there were five percent of attacks in a square meter before starting to treat. Farmers only needed to see one or two insect attacks on their rice fields to start treating. So by doing educational training in a participatory way with the farmers, we learned to show them when to treat. As a result, they were able to make significant economic gains by reducing insecticide applications.

Zongo So what are the benefits of integrated pest management for small-scale farmers? Ba Integrated pest management is really about reasoned control, so it’s really what goes with small-scale farming. Large-scale industrial agriculture and other types of agriculture can withstand a lot of inputs, and therefore a lot of expenses, because in the end, you can sell. Small-scale agriculture, on the other hand, is sometimes subsistence agriculture, so subsistence agriculture consists of reducing production costs as much as possible in order to get by. So integrated pest management is the solution for small-scale farmers. Zongo It is said that every system has drawbacks, so what are the drawbacks, if any, of this integrated pest management? Well, I wouldn’t say drawbacks as such… it’s just that we sometimes have difficulty linking certain control methods. You have chemical control and biological control, it’s not at all easy to find an insecticide or some other chemical for disease control, for example, that can control the pest while not adversely affecting its natural enemy. Zongo So what are the differences between integrated pest management and organic farming?

Ba Integrated pest management and organic agriculture should be able to go together provided that chemical treatments with conventional pesticides are not used, but in this case there are plants with an insecticidal effect that are part of the farmer’s know-how and that can be used. So such practices applied to other practices compatible with organic agriculture, I think it works without problems. Zongo Does that mean that you can do integrated pest management without doing organic farming? Ba Absolutely, because in organic farming you don’t use any chemicals, but in integrated pest management you can use chemicals. It’s just that we insist on not using pesticides at any time and at any place, let alone any insecticide, whatsoever… You have to use the right product at the right time and at the right place. End of the tape

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