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Weaver ants are predatory insects which kill key pests of many tree crops effectively decreasing the need to use pesticides. Paul Van Mele and Jean-François Vayssières describe how these fascinating insects have been husbanded effectively in Asia to manage pests of citrus and cashew. Their use has recently been extended [...]

Tremendous increases in pesticide use in cotton growing areas have severely affected the health of peoples and degraded environment. Farmer Field School (FFS) based IPM implemented in the world to reduce dependence on pesticides and promote environmentally safe plant protection practices. An FFS-led Integrated Pest Management (IMP) model implemented in Pakistan [...]

The Environmental Impact Quotient, EIQ, is one of numerous pesticide risk indicator models developed to rate potential hazardous impacts on human health and the environment of different pesticide use regimes. The EIQ takes into account toxicity information on the inherent potential of the active ingredient as well as actual application [...]

The focus in this thesis is to form a view of how well soil fertility research performs within the ever shifting smallholder contexts. This study examined application of agroecological knowledge for soil fertility management by smallholder farmers, with the view to enhancing the utility of research among resource-deprived farmers of western Kenya. [...]

The Regional Training on Biological Control (RTBC), co-organized by Thailand DoAE and the FAO Vegetable IPM Programme, was held in Khon Kaen from 9-20 July 2007. Twenty six participants from nine countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) participated.The activities included (i) country presentations, (ii) [...]

This article focuses on the context of the Millenium development goals (MDG) and improving and maintaining soil fertility in Africa.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a multifaceted, ecologically-based strategy that relies on close observation and monitoring of a crop before making management decisions. IPM combines a number of techniques to effectively suppress plant diseases and insect pests in an economically and environmentally conscious manner. Utilizing IPM to manage plant diseases [...]

The contribution of community-based interventions, including farmer field schools (FFSs) in integrated pest management (IPM), to reducing pesticide exposures and associated neurotoxic burden among smallfarm families in Ecuador was assessed in three Andean farming communities in a co-design of targeted action–research. Baseline questionnaire surveys elicited pesticide-related knowledge, practices, and exposure [...]

Workshop Report Under the project “Pesticide Risk Reduction in South East Asia”, an impact assessment workshop was held in Ho Chi Minh City from 23 to 25 July, 2007. It was attended by 10 participants from China, Cambodia and Vietnam. The participants included independent impact assessment leaders from the Royal University of Agriculture in Phnom [...]