Perspective: enhancing economic evaluations and impacts of integrated pest management Farmer Field Schools (IPM‐FFS) in low‐income countries

Abstract

Over the last few decades, the use of Farmer Field Schools (FFS) have been considered one of the best approaches to disseminate integrated pest management (IPM) practices that aim to reduce reliance on and misuse of chemical pest control methods in agriculture. However, the published empirical literature has been decidedly mixed in terms of the effectiveness of the IPM-FFS approach to improve economic outcomes in the short-term (e.g. reduce chemical use, improve profits), and the potential for scaling-up and IPM dissemination in the medium-term. This article briefly explores the empirical IPM-FFS literature and draws implications for future research directions that can potentially enhance IPM knowledge diffusion methods (including IPM-FFS) and increase the economic impact of IPM techniques in low-income countries. We find that promising research directions to improve understanding of IPM dissemination and IPM impacts will need to involve: (i) interdisciplinary long-run studies using rigorous evaluation methods; (ii) in-depth assessments of spillover effects; (iii) careful examination of IPM and IPM-FFS impact heterogeneity; (iv) evaluation of novel IPM packages with herbicide-and genetics-centered components; (v) piloting and impact assessments of alternative IPM knowledge diffusion structures; and (vi) piloting and impact analysis of IPM dissemination and learning programs with private sector involvement.

Integrated pest management strategies for cabbage stem flea beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala) in oilseed rape

“…Two new decision support initiatives are underway that may help to address this lack of holistic evaluation approaches for IPM in OSR (Munier‐Jolain & Paveley, 2021 ). Alternatively, evaluation strategies based on multicriteria analysis (Caffi et al, 2017 ) or long‐term studies using randomized controlled trials could be explored (Rejesus & Jones, 2020 ).…”

Research on the Impact of Members’ Social Capital within Agricultural Cooperatives on Their Adoption of IPM in China

“…Based on previous studies, this paper selected control variables, including respondents’ individual, household, and cooperative characteristics. Specifically, individual characteristics, such as gender [ 6 ], age [ 3 ], and education level [ 5 ], household characteristics, such as family farming area [ 4 ], number of off-farm laborers [ 27 ], and annual household income [ 28 ], and critical characteristics of cooperatives, such as the establishment time [ 29 ], demonstration level (according to the act ‘Opinions on carrying out the construction action of the farmer’s professional cooperative demonstration’ published by Ministry of Agriculture in 2009, the selection principles of demonstration agricultural cooperatives include management democracy, economic strength, the number of members, and social reputation. From low to high, there are four levels of demonstration agricultural cooperatives, including county-level demonstration, city-level demonstration, province-level demonstration, and national-level demonstration), and available capital [ 30 , 31 ] were included.…”

A Journal of the Plague Year

“…Bob Clark, one of our Associate Editors, provides a thought‐provoking discussion of the role that ‘deep learning’ may play in pest management in the future 33 . A perspective examines future research directions that can enhance the impact of IPM knowledge dissemination methods 34 . Another perspective evaluates the current status and issues related to regulation of RNA‐based biocontrol products 35 …”

“…33 A perspective examines future research directions that can enhance the impact of IPM knowledge dissemination methods. 34 Another perspective evaluates the current status and issues related to regulation of RNA-based biocontrol products. 35 Volume 77 (2021) of our journal promises to have some interesting papers.…”