Integrated Pest Management

Spring 1996 CU research in Indonesia helps SC vegetable growers  

5-24-99 IPM improves health and economy in Indonesia

DATE: Spring 1996

CONTACT: Merle Shepard, (843) 766-3761 mshprd@clemson.edu

WRITER: Tom Lollis, (803) 254-3343 tlollis@clemson.edu

Debbie Dalhouse, (864) 656-0937 ddalhou@clemson.edu

CLEMSON RESEARCH IN INDONESIA HELPS SOUTH CAROLINA VEGETABLE GROWERS

INDONESIA -- On a sunny day in tropical Indonesia, Clemson scientists can be found at work in the vegetable fields of mountainous West Sumatra.

So what are Clemson scientists doing conducting agricultural research in Indonesia, a nation of 13,000 islands with more than 180 million people and a land mass about three times the size of Texas?

They are entomologists working under a contract with the Indonesia Mission of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  They were invited to that Southeast Asian country in 1992 to develop integrated pest management (IPM) strategies for non-rice food crops such as soybeans, cabbage, potatoes, onions and peppers.

Integrated pest management relies on a balanced approach of biological controls, scouting fields and using highly targeted pesticides at the lowest possible rates.

"We're learning about insect pests in Indonesia that are similar to the insects in the crops in South Carolina. It's like a year-round laboratory there because they are able to grow three crops a year," explains Gerry Carner, a Clemson University entomologist who recently completed a two-year assignment in Indonesia.

"Indonesia is an excellent hunting ground for beneficial organisms because the hunt goes on year-round. Conditions are ideal for insects and their enemies," says Mike Hammig, Clemson agricultural economist who coordinated development of the research project.

The Clemson researchers are steering Indonesian farmers away from the shotgun approach to pest control. Indonesian farmers became heavily dependent on chemical pesticides in the 1960s and 1970s during the "green revolution" - a time when plant breeders and agronomists believed that they could greatly increase production of rice by planting new high-yielding varieties and protecting them with broad spectrum insecticides.

"They didn't need to do that. Farmers in Southeast Asia had been growing rice for centuries without insecticides," says Sam Turnipseed, the team's soybean entomologist from Clemson's Edisto Research and Education Center at Blackville, South Carolina.

"What they did was kill off the natural enemies - largely groups of spiders - that kept the brown plant hopper under control. Plant hopper populations exploded and eliminated rice production completely in large areas of Indonesia," he explains.

A team of researchers from the International Rice Research Institute, the Food and Agriculture Organization and other organizations reported what was wrong to the Indonesian government in the mid-1980s. Through these efforts, Indonesian President Suharto declared integrated pest management a national priority.

Clemson entomologist Merle Shepard leads the team's effort in Indonesia. He and his wife, Eleanor, an insect pathologist from Clemson, are now halfway through a two-year stay in Bogor, a city of one million located an hour outside the capital city of Jakarta.  

As a result of the past two years of study, selected insect viruses are now being studied in the Clemson University entomology laboratory to evaluate their safety and efficacy for local growers. If this method proves successful in the laboratory, it will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for approval to conduct field tests.

A number of other biological control agents are also being evaluated in the project laboratory at Bogor for use in Indonesia and for possible introduction into the United States. These include natural controls such as  fungi, protozoa and insect parasites.

By establishing safe and effective biological controls for insect pests, the Clemson researchers hope to provide South Carolina growers with alternate methods of producing high quality vegetables for local consumers.

END

DATE: 5- 24-99

CONTACT: Michael Hammig,(864) 656-5771 mhammig@clemson.edu 

INTEGRATED PEST CONTROL PROGRAM IMPROVES HEALTH AND ECONOMY IN INDONESIA

Five years ago, when children returned home from their work in vegetable fields in Indonesia, their mothers washed thick, white powder from their bare legs. The powder, a pesticide used to control crop-destroying insects, was applied in such excess that it poisoned the people and their environment. Further, the pests had developed a resistance to the chemicals, resulting in severely-reduced crops of rice, Indonesia's staple food.

Today, a growing number of Indonesians are using a healthy form of pest management, thanks to a partnership between Clemson University and Indonesia's Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB).

The Indonesian government instituted an integrated pest management (IPM) training program for rice farmers in 1987. Since then, farmers have demanded training in the secondary crops they plant in rotations with rice. These include soybeans and vegetables where pesticide overuse is even more intense than on rice.

Clemson and IPB are developing an IPM program for secondary crops in the major growing regions of the country, through a University Development Linkages Project (UDLP), sponsored by USAID since 1993. The IPM training program uses an extensive network of field-oriented, season-long training for farmers in pest control. 

IPB, the major agricultural university in Indonesia, is now recognized as a center for IPM expertise in Indonesia. Access to the expertise available at Clemson, an institution with broad International experience in Latin America and Africa as well as Asia, reinforces the capability of IPB to serve as a technical resource center.

Michael Hammig, project director and Clemson agricultural economist, said, "The alternative to chemical control is less expensive for farmers, much less harmful to the environment, and results in a healthier product for consumers." Using the new techniques for cabbage, farmers now need only occasionally spray a biological pest control agent (Bacillus thuringiensis) and handpick insect eggs. The new shallot pest control method uses a naturally occurring virus, which infects the insects and provides better control than chemicals. A single farmer can propagate enough virus for a whole village.

Through Clemson and IPB's joint efforts, over 500 farmers and extension workers received the IPM workshop. These trainees in turn are providing the course to farmers in their communities. Hundreds of thousands of farmers have learned about the rice IPM, and many have received secondary crop training, but this is still just a fraction of the 100 million Indonesians who work in agriculture production. The teachers battle the chemical industry, which has sales personnel in every village who hand out free samples and gifts such as t-shirts and hats.

"It's hard to break the habit," said Hammig. He added that the dangers of pesticide poisoning are not obvious to the farmers as the effects are "slow torture, not sudden and painful."

The benefits of the new methods are more obvious. On shallots alone, IPM farmers earn $700 more per hectare, per crop, than those who follow common practice. Local officials estimate that about 500 hectares are now under IPM production systems. The current benefit of the shallot IPM is between $750,000 and $1.0 million per year. Potentially, the technology will spread to all farmers in the region, and to farmers in other areas with similar pest problems, and the benefit will multiply to $100 million or more.

Other partnership results include the development of a Masters program in IPM in Indonesia, which had five graduates by the end of 1998. Three staff members from the IPB Department of Plant Pests and Diseases are pursuing Ph.D. studies at Clemson and two more will begin in Fall 1999 with funding from Japan and the Indonesian Ministry of Education. Under the UDLP, IPB has implemented a wide range of field research activities to support IPM development. Research involves key crops - where common pesticide use is particularly excessive (such as shallots, cabbage, potato, and soybean) - and key pests such as the leaf miner fly that attack a variety of crops.

Farmers in South Carolina, and the Southeastern U.S. in general, face many of the same pest problems as those encountered in Indonesia. Through the UDLP, Clemson scientists discovered and tested new pest management approaches for possible application at home.

The USAID project was extended to 2000. The partners also have a small USDA grant to develop an IPM program for potatoes.

END