From-research-to-farmer practice: a case study in rice pest management

Abstract

In Asian rice farmers’ pest management, knowledge gaps between what farmers need to know and what they actually know are the main constraints, and pesticide misuse is due primarily to these gaps. Over the last two decades, changes in pest management decisions and practices of about 300 million rice farmers in Asia are hardly evident. Knowledge gaps may be due to lack of research or lack of synthesis of research results. Even when research is well-targeted, the results may not be adopted because of delivery problems. To facilitate adoption, research must distill research results further, developing them into forms that can facilitate communication. In addition, research will need to investigate factors constraining adoption and explore the utility of communication methods and systems. This paper discusses a case study illustrating the continuum, from research to practice, in leaffolder management. Large proportions of farmers’ insecticide sprays are directed at rice leaffolder. Research has shown, however, that these sprays are unnecessary and are, in fact detrimental to ecological balance causing secondary brown planthopper problems. Farmers spray for leaffolder control primarily due to misperception. A simple rule-of-thumb, or “heuristic,” was distilled from years of research by many scientists—In the first 40 days after sowing, leaffolder control is not necessary.” When presented to farmers, the heuristic can be easily transformed into a research question, which can be tested. When farmers were invited to participate in experiments to test this heuristic, most found no yield difference between pesticide-treated and untreated plots, changed their attitudes toward leaffolders, and stopped spraying to kill them. In a pilot project in Vietnam, various media materials were used to encourage farmers to test the heuristic. The target audience was 20,000 farm families in Long An Province. An evaluation conducted 16 mo after the project was initiated showed that farmers’ insecticide application dropped from 3–4 to 1–2. Perceptions of leaffolder damage and the need to spray early for control also changed.