Farmers' and rural extension workers' perceptions on the adoption of the integrated pest management

Abstract

As one important element of food culture, the common bean can be found in diverse countries and social classes. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) can help rationalize the use of insecticides to control insect pests in bean crops. This grain is an important element for food security and can be found in different countries and social classes. The present study aimed to examine rural extension professionals' and farmers' after participating in the “Plante seu Futuro” (“Grow your future”) program of the Government of the State of Paraná-Brazil in its component “Integrated Management of Pests and Diseases”, with the objective of identifying common points of view, positive and negative aspects that can be considered in the dissemination of the IPM. For that, semi-structured interview scripts were applied. The technical procedure used was the multi-case study, based on seven farmers and seven rural extension workers, employees of an official institution of Technical Assistance and Rural Extension, totaling about 20% of the program participants. The information was transcribed, organized, and subjected to content analysis. The intensity of discourses concerning the IPM before and after the experiment shows that even those farmers and rural extensionists who had a negative opinion about the IPM present favorable discourses and unanimity in the categorization of ends in the face of material success as justification for adopting the IPM after the experience. However, lack of information and/or knowledge about the practice was mentioned as a barrier, implying the need for technicians and farmers to be trained in order to spread IPM.