Farmer participatory research in rice pest management: Its impact on farmer's decision making and arthropod diversity in Chainat, Thailand
1997
Areepan Upanisakorn
Farmer participatory research (FPR) in rice integrated pest management (IPM) was conducted in Chainat, during wet season 1993 in order to examine its impact on farmer's decision making and arthropod diversity. FPR farmers gained more confidence and appreciation of the natural control by IPM. Participatory research was able to change farmers' attitudes toward control action. FPR farmers reduced spraying while non FPR farmers sprayed 1-7 times per season. After harvesting, there was no difference in yields resulting in, but the differences in profit. The arthropod communities of rice fields in FPR and non-FPR were investigated to determine the effect of IPM on them which confirmed that in non-FPR farms, the herbivore populations were still higher than in FPR farms. At the same time, predators and parasites were higher in FPR. The arthropods found were categorized in 14 orders, 92 families, 251 species only a few species were herbivores such as Sogatella sp. and Nephotettix sp.. The predators often found were Tetragnatha sp. and Cyrtorhinus lividipennis while most of parasites were Oligosita aesopi and Encarsia sp. It was noted that IPM methods given better result both in profit and safety which the farmers need to put it in action instead of relying only on insecticides. Thus, there is an urgent need to accelerate IPM implementation.
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