Learning from failure: smallholder farming systems and IPM in Malawi

Abstract

Six lessons on integrated pest management (IPM) for smallholders are reviewed from recent Project experience in the Blantyre Shire Highlands, southern Malawi. (1) Crop losses from pests were a lower priority for farmers than low soil fertility and high fertiliser prices. (2) Limited pesticide use on staple food crops reduced potential cost-savings from IPM, which must be linked to wider efforts to raise productivity and cash incomes. (3) Pest damage was variable and site-specific. (4) There were no suitable and effective IPM strategies ‘on the shelf’. (5) Statistical verification of IPM strategies in on-farm trials (OFTs) was problematic, while case-studies, rather than group discussion proved the best method of discovering farmers' strategies. (6) Optimising farmer participation in OFTs required recognition of gaps in farmer knowledge and differences between farmers' and researchers' objectives. Experience in Malawi suggests that smallholder IPM is best viewed in the context of improving crop management since, without higher yields, the economic incentive for IPM on staple food crops is limited. IPM strategies for Striga, a symptom of low soil fertility, contribute directly to this objective. IPM strategies for other pests are more likely to win acceptance from farmers when they are linked to varieties or management practices that raise cash income. Efforts to re-design this project to make it more relevant to farmers' needs proved largely unsuccessful, mainly because change threatened the vested interests of the donor agency and the national research system.