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A
relatively high percentage of rural people in Cambodia are physically
disabled. Farmers with
physical disabilities are often not included in agricultural training
activities. The regional Community IPM programme in Cambodia initiated a
project in co-operation with Handicap International (HI) in 1999 so that
disabled farmers could participate in FFS’s.
Not only have handicapped farmers been participating in FFS, but
disabled alumni have also joined the ranks of the several hundred other
alumni who have been trained as Farmer IPM Trainers.
Tropaing
Prech Village, Bati District, Takeo now has 4 handicapped Farmer IPM
Trainers who have recently conducted their own field experiments on
watermelon. The study
was part of an alumni/Farmer IPM Trainer project focused on farm level
income generation related to IPM in vegetable and rice crops.
They investigated the effects of fertiliser and pesticide on crop
yield. The farmers
found that increased rates of fertilisation with no pesticide use achieved
almost twice the yield of the usual practice of low fertilisation and high
pesticide use. The
farmer researchers shared their results with other farmers in their
village by holding an open meeting for all local farmers.
While
this small study focused on crop yield there have been other studies that
have examined the economic returns to IPM and the viability of
diversification. Farmer meetings have been helpful in improving
these research activities, sharing ideas, and strengthening relationships
within the farmers’ communities.
China
The
China IPM programme has been training alumni to be Farmer IPM Trainers
since 1998. By the end of 1999 there were almost 600 Farmer IPM
Trainers in China. In the current season at least 30 Farmer IPM
Trainer TOT’s supported by FAO will be conducted for selected FFS
alumni. There
will be an almost equal number supported by local governments in six
provinces.
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These TOT’s will increase the total of Farmer IPM
Trainers in China to around 2500. Women are playing an important role
in IPM activities as Farmer IPM Trainers. The following case from
Mianzhu County in Sichuan Province indicates that this role will only get
larger.
Women
Leading the Way for Community IPM
Mianzhu
County in Sichuan Province is
approximately 60 kilometers north of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan
Province. Sichuan Province,
in southwest China, is one of the largest provinces in China, with a
population of approximately 80 million people.
Women have always played a critical role
in
rice production, in Xinshi Township of Mianzhu County.
Recently women have become even more important to agriculture in the
area as increasing numbers of men are seeking employment in nearby urban
areas. Traditionally women have
been responsible for seed preparation, crop fertilisation, cultivation, pest
and disease management, water management, and harvesting.
Clearly, women need to be included in FFS’s so that they can learn
and apply the principles of IPM in their fields.
In
1999,
Ms.
Li Jirong from Jiannan Village in Xinshi Township became the first female
Farmer IPM Trainer in China to conduct an FFS.
Ms. Li Jirong participated in a Farmer IPM Trainers TOT in 1998 after
having completed an FFS. She is
37 years old and is the chair of the Women’s Union in her village.
The 25 participants in the FFS that she organised ranged in age from
25 to 50 and, like her, were all women.
But Ms. Li Jirong was not the only woman leading an FFS in Mianzhu
County in 1999. There were four
other FFS conducted by women during the 1999 rice-growing
season. Women will be playing
an increasingly larger role in IPM in Mianzliu County.
The county Women's Union leader is strongly behind IPM. In fact the Women’s Union of Sichuan Province is strongly
supporting IPM at the provincial level.
They will be adding funds to help increase the number of FFS being
implemented by women for women. The
leaders of the Mianzhu County Women’s Union intend to have 20 FFS
implemented by women for women during the summer of 2000.
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