This study aimed to understand farmers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding agricultural pest management and synthetic pesticide use in Southeast Asia. Data were used from 900 farm households producing leaf mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. et Coss.) and yard-long bean (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis (L.) Verdc.) in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Farmers heavily depended on synthetic pesticides as their main method of pest control. Most farmers were aware of the adverse health effects associated with pesticide use and covered body parts while spraying, but also considered pesticides to be highly effective and indispensable farm inputs. Farmers were largely unable to distinguish between common beneficial and harmful arthropods. Greater knowledge about this was associated with less pesticide use while greater awareness of pesticide health risks was associated with fewer observed poisoning symptoms. For the average farm and while controlling for other factors, farmers who sought advice from friends and neighbors used 45% less pesticide, but those who sought advice from pesticide shopkeepers used 251% more pesticide. Pesticide use was 42% less when a woman was in charge of pest management and 31% less when farmers had adopted biopesticides. These findings suggest relevant entry points for interventions aimed at reducing pesticide dependence.

This study evaluates the combined impact of school gardens linked to complementary lessons and promotional activities about gardening and nutrition on the nutritional awareness, knowledge, perceptions, eating behaviour and nutritional status of 10-to 15-year-old schoolchildren in Nepal. We used a cluster randomised controlled trial design to collect data from 30 schools and a sample of 1275 and 785 schoolchildren for the 2014 and 2015 school years, respectively. After one year of intervention, we found a significant (p < 0.01) increase in children's awareness about fruit and vegetables, their knowledge about sustainable agriculture, their knowledge about food, nutrition and health and their stated preferences for eating fruit and vegetables. However, these improvements in intermediary outcomes did not translate into significant improvements in fruit and vegetable consumption or nutritional status. To influence children's food decisions, it may be required to work more intensively with parents and to increase the availability of fruit and vegetables at the household and community level. ARTICLE HISTORY

School gardening interventions have been touted as an effective approach to improve children's eating habits in developed countries, but there is little evidence for their impact in developing countries. We studied the combined effect of school gardens linked to complementary lessons and promotional activities on the eating behavior and nutritional status of 9-to 15-year-old schoolchildren in Bhutan. We also studied the effect on a range of secondary indicators derived from the impact pathway. We used data from 468 schoolchildren in 9 control and 9 treatment schools following a randomized controlled trial design. We found that the school gardening intervention significantly increased children's awareness about vegetables, their knowledge about sustainable agriculture, and their preferences for healthier foods. We found an 11.7-percentage point increase in the probability that children included vegetables in their meals (p < 0.05), but not in the number of different fruits or vegetables consumed. These results support the idea that comprehensive school garden interventions, combining gardening with education and promotion, can positively influence food preferences and food behavior in developing countries.

This study evaluates the combined impact of school vegetable gardens linked to complementary nutrition education on the nutritional awareness, knowledge, perceptions, and eating behavior of 8-14-year-old schoolchildren in Burkina Faso. The study uses a repeated cluster randomized controlled trial and a sample of 30 schools and 1,760 schoolchildren. The results show a small but significant (p < 0.05) increase in knowledge of sustainable agriculture (+5.0%) and knowledge of food and nutrition (+6.6%), but no significant increase in other outcome indicators including fruit and vegetable consumption. More caution is needed in the promotion of school gardens for improving child nutrition in very low income countries. ARTICLE HISTORY